From Lowest to Highest

Chapter 2: Two years ago, when I first awakened. I still remember the despair that washed over me when I saw my Constellation rank was the Lowest. It was disappointing, sure, but I could understand it. After all, I was just an ordinary university student with no achievements or special abilities to speak of. If anything, I felt a bit satisfied that I’d been given the rather impressive-sounding Constellation name, Seeker of Supreme Knowledge. I figured they’d named me that because I was a college student.

But thinking back now, there was something strange about the notifications back then.

Yeah, something like that. Anyway, being a Lowest-rank Constellation was completely useless. Mid-rank Constellations could contract with dozens of incarnations, but the Lowest rank was limited to just three. Starting from Low rank, you could expand your incarnation slots with credits, but Lowest-rank Constellations couldn’t even do that. The ability to bestow your own powers or items on incarnations was locked, and the only things you could send were ridiculously overpriced items or skills bought through the system with credits. Most importantly, Lowest-rank Constellations couldn’t receive anything from the other world. While higher-ranking Constellations received all sorts of treasures and gold coins through temples from their incarnations, I could only give using my credits—I couldn’t take anything in return. In other words, there was zero benefit for me in this world.

Of course, being Lowest rank didn’t mean I had nothing at all. A Constellation’s stats grew stronger based on the faith of those who believed in and praised them. But with only three incarnations, the increase was so minuscule it barely made a difference.

That was the kind of worthless skill it was—until ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠suddenly, a rank re-evaluation was announced. I focused on the notification window.

“Tsk…”

Figures. I got my hopes up for nothing just because it was a re-measurement. At least I was already at the Lowest rank, so there was nowhere left to fall. While I was feeling depressed, new windows kept popping up in front of me.

“Huh?”

Only one? So I’m the only person on Earth with an EX-rank skill?

8.5 billion? I could’ve sworn Earth’s population was around 6 billion when I was a kid.

Other planets? Now that I think about it, there was a huge fuss recently when that company whose name starts with X successfully landed a manned spacecraft on Mars.

“What the hell.”

They said they were re-measuring my Constellation rank, but now it’s suddenly talking about dimension-related stuff. No new windows appeared for a while. I stared at the empty space, trying to calm my pounding heart. After what felt like an eternity…

“Huh? Huhhh?”

I blinked hard at the unbelievable notification, opened and closed my eyes, even pinched my cheek. After doing that for a while, I finally spoke.

“Hah? Highest?! It’s Highest!”

Constellation ranks went from Highest down to High, Mid-High, Mid, Mid-Low, Low, and Lowest. A Constellation’s rank could rise if they became famous, gathered a lot of faith, gained many followers, or if their incarnations accomplished great feats. Conversely, ranks could drop if they lost power, were defeated in conflicts between Constellations, or if their incarnations died en masse. But even in those cases, ranks usually only went up or down by one or two levels. Jumping six entire ranks at once was unheard of. I had gone from the absolute bottom to the very top in a single leap.

How many humiliating things had I endured as a Lowest-rank Constellation? Not only had I suffered unfair treatment from other Constellations, but whenever one of my incarnations showed a bit of promise, higher-ranking Constellations would poach them with contract offers. Even incarnations contracted to high-ranking Constellations would look down on me. Whenever I tried to offer a contract to someone decent, capable people would ignore me because I was Lowest rank.

I immediately opened the window to check the changes.

“Holy crap.”

One thousand incarnation slots. That was basically no limit at all. And a new Grace section had appeared below the Shop. Instead of the rip-off items and skills in the shop, this let me directly transmit my own items or Constellation powers to my incarnations. It still cost credits to send, and since I had no abilities of my own, I could only send Earth’s items—but that was still something. From what I knew, the cooldown for Grace was at least several days, and for lower-ranking Constellations it could be months. But for Highest rank, it was available once a day.

And at the very bottom, a newly added section: Communication Channel. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but it was simple. It was a community for Constellations. And for most Lowest-rank Constellations, it was a place they couldn’t even access.

“I… I was so jealous… I really wanted to get in…”

Forget finding new incarnations or whatever—I had to check out the community first. New Constellation births or rank re-evaluations were announced to all Constellations and incarnations like system-wide notifications. Of course, rank re-evaluations happened several times a day ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on busy days. Especially among lower-ranking Constellations, they were so common that no one paid much attention. Only when a High or Highest-rank Constellation was born did it become real news.

But what if a Lowest-rank Constellation was newly promoted to Highest rank?

Grinning, I entered the Communication Channel. And the community was in even more chaos than I’d imagined.

“This… this is basically a gallery, isn’t it?”

The community looked strangely familiar. The moment I entered, the entire page was filled with posts about me.

The Constellations… were they really like this? It wasn’t much different from what I saw on the internet. Most of them acted all high and mighty in front of incarnations or other Constellations, but here they were completely different. Or maybe it was because it was an anonymous community. “But the ones posting with their Constellation names… what’s up with them?”

Smiling to myself, I started reading through the posts one by one. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠commotion only grew worse; every time I refreshed, the entire page was covered in new posts. Well, that was that. After reading for a while, I switched back to the main view to look for new incarnations.

*****

Meanwhile, in the world of incarnations. Because contracts with Constellations determined not only one’s own abilities but the very safety of the world, everyone was watching the birth of a new high-ranking Constellation. And naturally, the news that a Lowest-rank Constellation had newly ascended to Highest rank caused an uproar far greater than the chaos among the Constellations themselves.