Chapter 8. Constellation Skill (3)
“If you were this strong, you should’ve told us from the start!”
After fighting the endlessly swarming skeletons for an entire hour...
The attitudes of the people who had initially looked down on Kang Yujin had completely changed.
“Here, here! Have a drink. And eat some of this too!”
“We brought all this for the after-party anyway, so come eat with us!”
Kang Yujin didn’t refuse the food they offered him.
It had been a long time since he had eaten such strongly flavored food.
With every bite, he could feel his mood getting better.
“But how are you so strong, brother? Did you undergo some kind of special training?”
“It is all thanks to the blessing of the Great One.”
“Ah, you mean it’s because of the Constellation you contracted with?”
“That’s right.”
Kang Yujin could tell that the people sitting nearby were listening closely.
“That Constellation... No, that Constellation-nim’s name didn’t appear in the notification window.”
“Right. I thought that was strange too. Normally, it displays the Constellation Name, like ‘Constellation So-and-So,’ doesn’t it?”
“As far as I know, if the name doesn’t appear in the notification window, then either the Constellation is hiding their name through some special method, or they don’t have a Constellation Name at all.”
“Are there even Constellations without names?”
“...I don’t know.”
Kang Yujin fiddled with the glass of alcohol someone had poured for him before speaking.
“The Clown called him the Nameless One as well. That’s what I call him too.”
“The Nameless One....”
“I survived because of his help. That skeleton dinosaur from earlier? Dinosaur skeleton? Anyway, when I fought that pile of bones, he granted me power, which is why I was able to win.”
“Ah, right. Judging by the message earlier, it looked like you underwent Origin Awakening....”
“The Nameless One did that for me too.”
“R-Really?”
“That’s right. He is the guardian of all those struggling at the very bottom of this world.”
Kang Yujin took a drink and repeated the words he had heard from the Clown before.
“Because he watches over me, I can fight without fear.”
“E-Excuse me.”
A long-haired man swallowed dryly and spoke up.
“How did you become connected to that Constellation? How can we receive that Constellation’s help as well?”
“Who knows.”
“C-Can’t you at least give us a hint...?”
“It seems that if you pray earnestly to him, he may answer.”
“Really?”
“Was it called Origin Awakening? Even then, I prayed to him for one final burst of strength.”
“Prayer....”
“You guys should try praying too. You might have formed a connection with him during this Quest. And he is always watching me, so if you pray now, your voices should reach him.”
The Contractors exchanged glances after hearing that.
“Sh-Should we try it?”
“We’ve got nothing to lose....”
“Let’s give it a shot.”
They nodded to one another, put down the food they had been eating, and began to pray.
“Nameless One, Nameless One....”
“We believe, we believe....”
“Please form a contract with me too, Nameless One....”
The sight of so many people clasping their hands together and praying earnestly was quite impressive in its own way.
“What is this, some kind of cult...?”
The Clown, who had appeared beside them at some point, muttered in disbelief while staring at the scene.
“Where did you go?”
“I have plenty of work to do too. I can’t stay glued to you all day.”
“I smashed the skeleton monster you mentioned and restored peace to this village. I suppose that was also the Nameless One’s guidance?”
“No. This area is specifically set up so undead monsters appear at regular intervals. What peace are you talking about?”
The Clown sighed.
“Anyway, you earned a lot of Coins, didn’t you?”
“There were a bunch of words appearing while I was fighting earlier.”
“Draw a symbol in the air like this with your left hand. Your Status Window should appear.”
Kang Yujin copied the Clown’s gesture.
Sure enough, countless words appeared in the air.
“There should be a number in the upper-right corner labeled ‘Coins,’ right?”
“It says 3.3 million.”
“That’s impressive. Although one million of that came from the King of Vengeance.”
One million Coins had been the amount the King of Vengeance offered as the MVP reward.
“And the ‘Grand Preceptor of the Golden Whip,’ who activated the Hidden Piece, gave you another million after watching you defeat the Undead Saurus... The remaining 1.3 million must be sponsorship donations from the other Constellations.”
“Is that a lot?”
“It is. If you live frugally, that’s enough to cover food, clothing, and shelter for several months.”
“It is all thanks to the Nameless One watching over me.”
“Haah....”
For some reason, the Clown shook his head in exasperation.
“Anyway, now that you have Coins, let’s start by changing your clothes.”
“Clothes?”
“You’re planning to keep walking around in those rags? If you’re going to keep fighting as a Contractor, at least wear some protective equipment. Like those people over there.”
“What do you have?”
“For the current Kang Yujin-nim... I’d recommend this protective suit that costs one million Coins. It’s an all-black rider-suit style, so I think it would suit you.”
A pitch-black outfit suddenly appeared in the Clown’s hands.
It was a full-body suit made of material that looked extremely durable at first glance.
“If that seems too expensive, there’s also one for five hundred thousand Coins.... And another for three hundred thousand.”
“Don’t you have anything better?”
“What?”
“I asked if you have anything better than the one-million-Coin version.”
“There’s one for 1.5 million and another for two million.”
“Give me the two-million-Coin one. I have 3.3 million right now anyway.”
“...The Constellation is unbelievably stingy, but the Contractor spends money like water.”
“What?”
“Thank you for your purchase!”
“And don’t you have a razor?”
“What do you think this is, a convenience store...? I do have one.”
“Give me one as a freebie. I need to shave.”
“Good grief.”
I smiled as I watched Kang Yujin and Number 49 through the observation device.
Everything went well.
Kang Yujin had performed even better than expected in the Cursed Village.
He had created a tense scene by struggling against an Undead Saurus—a massive carnivorous dinosaur, at that—before smashing it apart with a single blow.
The Constellations watching must have been quite satisfied.
Asking the Count to spread the word also worked well.
This Quest hadn’t been hosted by me, so there was no point spending money on advertising.
Instead, I thought it would be more effective to spread rumors through the Count that there was a noteworthy Constellation around.
Of course, the Count himself hadn’t gone around personally talking about me.
All he had done was put up an additional Quest reward.
However, news that the Count—who rarely ever involved himself in such matters—had done something like that reached the ears of other Constellations.
And the quick-witted ones came rushing over.
It was also good that the Grand Preceptor of the Golden Whip activated the Hidden Piece.
While fiddling with various settings on the observation device, I discovered that I could check which Constellations had come to watch.
As I examined the Constellations observing the Quest, I let out an exclamation when I spotted the S-rank Constellation, ‘Grand Preceptor of the Golden Whip.’
The Grand Preceptor of the Golden Whip was notorious for occasionally interfering with Events or Quests and suddenly making them far more difficult.
Just as I had hoped, the Grand Preceptor of the Golden Whip activated a Hidden Piece and drastically raised the difficulty.
That created the perfect environment for Kang Yujin to show off.
The Constellations were very satisfied.
A shabby-looking man who had been ignored by the other Contractors suddenly stepped forward, protected everyone from a gigantic monster, and displayed overwhelming strength.
It was dramatic enough.
And the results showed through the messages and sponsorship donations sent by the Constellations.
Since it was only a small beginner-level Quest, there hadn’t been many Constellations watching.
It wasn’t as though an enormous amount of sponsorship money had poured in either.
Still, it wasn’t bad for a first step.
And....
I opened my Status Window and checked my Origin Power.
When I became an S-rank Constellation, I had been granted 150 million Origin Power points.
And while carrying out everything so far, I had spent several million points.
Yet my current Origin Power was...
150.43 million points.
Instead of decreasing, I had actually gained more.
Was it because Kang Yujin performed so well? Or because he shouted for everyone to worship me during the climax?
According to Number 49, Origin Power increased as a Constellation’s status rose.
Either way, it seemed that my Origin Power had increased thanks to Kang Yujin, my Contractor.
This Origin Power... I have a feeling it’s going to become extremely important from now on.
If I wanted to accomplish great things as a Constellation, Origin Power would undoubtedly be necessary.
So I needed to increase it as much as possible.
How much Origin Power does the Count have? Five hundred million? A billion?
The gap between us was probably huge right now.
But someday, I would catch up.
With such grand thoughts running through my head, I manipulated the observation device.
For some reason, Contractors surrounding Kang Yujin were praying to me.
— Nameless One, Nameless One....
— Please form a contract with me too! Please!
— I don’t need a D-rank Constellation anymore. Please, grant me the blessing of an S-rank Constellation too...!
I couldn’t help laughing when I noticed a Contractor saying something similar to what I used to say in the past.
He was a rough-looking man with a completely shaved head.
He’s well-built too. Looks like a physical attack type.
Contractors could generally be divided into three main types.
Physical attack types.
Magic attack types.
Special ability types.
Physical attack types were the most basic style.
They fought using their bodies or weapons to unleash physical power.
Kang Yujin could currently be considered a physical attack type as well.
Should I check him out? I’ve been wanting to test this on someone other than Kang Yujin anyway.
I decided to use my Constellation Skill, [Origin Insight], on the skinhead.
[Origin Insight] allowed me to see what Awakening Skill someone would obtain during Origin Awakening.
I touched the skinhead on the screen and concentrated.
Origin Insight.
I immediately felt the skill activate.
At the same time, Origin Power was consumed.
That took a huge chunk of Origin Power.
One million Origin Power points disappeared instantly.
If I also used [Origin Enlightenment] afterward, another two million points would be consumed.
That was why I couldn’t casually use Constellation Skills on just anyone.
This should be the last test—huh?
I doubted my own eyes.
The skinhead’s predicted Awakening Skill had appeared before me.
But something about it was strange.
[Awakening Skill: ‘Hidden Insight (庇匿洞察)’]
Overview: Obtains information about the Hidden Pieces of all Events and Quests. However, Hidden Pieces concealed by higher beings can only be discovered after successfully passing a judgment.
Other: Cooldown — 24 hours.
It obtains information about Hidden Pieces?
Hidden Pieces referred to secret elements hidden inside Events or Quests.
For example, the Grand Preceptor of the Golden Whip making the Undead Saurus appear earlier had been the activation of a Hidden Piece.
Naturally, because they were secret elements, the rewards associated with them were also substantial.
Is a skill like this even allowed?! No, wait.
Normally, Awakening Skills could only be obtained after an experienced Contractor survived countless hardships and eventually reached enlightenment.
If that skinhead happened to possess an innate talent for uncovering hidden elements, and devoted his entire life to discovering all kinds of Hidden Pieces, then naturally, he might eventually obtain a skill like this.
Using my Constellation Skill merely allowed him to skip the entire process in between and obtain the Awakening Skill immediately.
It might be different once someone is already fully developed, but at an immature stage like this... this skill has incredible value.
Kang Yujin’s Awakening Skill, [All-Crushing Strike (一切粉碎)], was a physical attack skill that identified an object’s absolute weak point and then delivered the optimal strike.
It was extremely useful for a physical attack type.
In fact, it had allowed the current Kang Yujin to defeat the Undead Saurus—an opponent he should never have been able to defeat with his current strength.
But in the end, it was still merely an extension of physical attacks.
It wasn’t a skill that fundamentally changed his life as a Contractor.
However, [Hidden Insight] could completely transform someone’s entire career as a Contractor.
After all, they could rise rapidly by monopolizing every hidden element they encountered.
And if this guy doesn’t use his Awakening Skill only for himself, but shares the information with others....
What would happen if this skinhead used [Hidden Insight] while leading a party, a guild, an army, or even an entire nation?
The impact would be enormous.
Then, what should I do?
There were three options I could take right now.
First, eliminate him in advance.
If the skinhead underwent Origin Awakening, gained [Hidden Insight], and became immensely powerful, there was a possibility that he could become an obstacle to the things I intended to do in the future.
If so, it might be better to eliminate him now, while he was still weak.
Second, leave him alone.
Origin Awakening wasn’t something just anyone could achieve.
You had to become a peak-level expert and then attain enlightenment before it was possible.
The chances of that skinhead ever undergoing Origin Awakening were probably less than one percent.
If I simply left him alone, there might be nothing to worry about.
Third... recruit him and make him mine.
If I could bring that skinhead under my command, just like Kang Yujin, he could become an enormous help with everything I planned to accomplish in the future.
The problem was whether I could turn him into someone who trusted and followed me like Kang Yujin did.
If I went through the trouble of awakening him only for him to act contrary to what I wanted, I would be the only one losing out.
What should I do?
I fell into thought.
Of course...
The answer was obvious.
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