Chapter 246: The Starting Floor (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 246: The Starting Floor (2)
Tirring—
「You have entered the 1st Floor, the Starting City of Arcana.」
While Kang Hyun-woo was summoned to the Corridor of Stars, Lucifer arrived in the Starting City of Arcana.
Just as seeing something through a screen is different from visiting in person, a landscape that was both familiar and strange unfolded before her.
Her heart stirred at the reality of standing here not as a Constellation, but as a mere player.
But she didn't let it bother her much. She had resolved not to get bogged down by such trivial emotions anymore.
Of course, that resolve didn't last long.
—You’re pretty.
Smack!
The voice that suddenly flashed through her mind made her reflexively slap her own cheek. The stinging sensation made Lucifer wipe her face.
She sighed inwardly as her heart fluttered again. Her face was so hot she couldn't even lift her head.
The memory was still vivid.
After finishing the hunt that had lasted until dawn, she had intended to talk about what to do after entering the Tower, but Kang Hyun-woo had abruptly gone into the cave.
Just before noon, he had strolled out leisurely. She was about to complain, but he suddenly pulled her into an embrace and kissed her.
It was a deep, intense kiss.
She was flustered for a moment, but to be honest, she had also felt a thrill, as if he were showing off their relationship in front of the other women.
The problem came after the kiss ended.
He had stared at her intently, then gave her a light peck and whispered in her ear.
That she was pretty.
Her heart began to pound as if it would burst at his words, which held not a single shred of falsehood.
And the aftershock continued to torment her even now.
Just thinking about it for a moment made her heart race violently, as if she had a heart condition.
‘This won't do. I have to do something...’
Kang Hyun-woo's face kept popping into her head at all hours, to the point where she could barely function.
Not that it was a bad thing, but...
Smack!
Once again, she shook off the distracting thoughts that were creeping into her mind. She’d hit herself a little too hard and it stung, but it was a hundred times better than thinking of a man's face like a fool, trying to suppress the trembling corners of her lips.
“Hoo...”
She circulated her magic power, expelling the heat, and her head felt much clearer.
After regaining her usual composure, she calmly looked around.
This was the Starting Plaza, where new players who had cleared the Tutorial Floor arrived.
The plaza was packed to the brim with clan scouters who had gathered to recruit these new players.
After a quick survey, she estimated there were about 100 new players in this batch.
It went without saying that the tutorial test wasn't held in just one area. It changed each time, but there were at least five locations.
Compared to the usual 200 or so, this batch was on the smaller side.
There were over 1,000 people crowded in the plaza, a testament to the fierce competition for recruiting new talent.
Of course, only a tiny fraction of them were from large clans.
Clans of that size tended to recruit those who had already reached the middle floors rather than investing in unproven talent.
Most of those players would already belong to a clan, but few could ignore the offers made by a large clan.
Fortunately, no one approached her.
「Mask of Illusion
Classification: Item
Rank: SS
A mask that conceals one's true nature.
※Other abilities are sealed.」
Not even a scouter from a large clan could see through an SS-rank item, so their lack of interest was to be expected.
No matter how much she looked around, she couldn't see Kang Hyun-woo.
‘As I thought, he must have been summoned to the Corridor of Stars.’
Frankly, she had been dumbfounded when she heard that Kang Hyun-woo had attracted the attention of Constellations.
And they weren't just any run-of-the-mill gods; each one was a highest-ranking deity.
Kang Hyun-woo had to be the first and only one to receive the attention of three highest-ranking deities on the Tutorial Floor.
Of course, she excluded Horus, the ‘Eye that Guards the Throne.’
What that one had shown wasn't goodwill, but something closer to hostility.
Gods were generally petty, but the Egyptian deities were a little different.
They were rather magnanimous, but they were also the type to mercilessly eliminate any being that deviated from the rules they had set.
He would probably show himself again before long.
‘The only one likely to appear in the Corridor this time is Ishtar, the Saintess of Uruk.’
If her predictions were correct, the Dancing Destroyer and the Dweller of the Swamp were highly unlikely to appear in the Corridor.
The Dweller of the Swamp was famous for having no interest in making contracts, and the Dancing Destroyer was of too high a status to contract with a mere player candidate.
Ishtar, on the other hand, was different.
The goddess of Mesopotamia, for whom the words arrogant and insolent were a better fit than for anyone else.
She had shown enough interest to personally sponsor Kang Hyun-woo, who was just a player candidate, so she was certain to make an appearance in the Corridor this time.
Personally, she would advise him not to make a contract with her, but ultimately, it was Kang Hyun-woo's choice.
She had no right to interfere in his every action.
Still, the thought of him making a contract with Ishtar made her feel inexplicably displeased.
‘...Even though he already has a contract with me.’
She grumbled quietly to herself.
It was a matter of logic versus emotion.
Logically, it was right for him to contract with another Constellation. It would be even better if it was a Constellation who wouldn't bat an eye at making an enemy of a Constellation Cluster like Eden.
But ever since her status as a Constellation was revoked... no, to be precise, ever since she met Kang Hyun-woo, she had become strangely emotional.
The more something was related to him, the harder it became to make cool, objective judgments.
‘...I'm not in my right mind either.’
She chugged the cold water she had brought with her, cooling her insides.
Thanks to that, her head felt much calmer.
What she needed to do now was find Lee Serin and Yoo Ah-rin.
It was a given that no one was an easier target than a new player.
The clan scouters would be desperate to find an easy mark, and the two women, with their outstanding looks, were more than enough to become their targets.
Of course, she had given them a few words of advice before they were transported, so there was no need to worry for now, but one could never be too sure.
Finding them before they got caught up in any unnecessary trouble was the top priority.
Fortunately or unfortunately, it seemed she wouldn't have to search for them.
The only problem was that she was already a step too late.
“I said we don't need it!”
A voice, clearly agitated, rang out.
It was a voice she'd heard somewhere before. One by one, people's gazes began to turn in that direction.
Sure enough, at the center of the incident were Lee Serin and Yoo Ah-rin, confronting a group of men who looked like unfinished sketches.
Swallowing a sigh, she walked toward them.
*
The men, who had approached Lee Serin and Yoo Ah-rin because of their looks, were pressuring them to join their clan, but Lee Serin had flatly refused, saying they were with someone.
It would have been nice if it had ended there, but the men were persistent.
Unable to stand by and watch their increasingly rude words and actions, she had raised her voice, and Lucifer, who had witnessed it, intervened.
With so many people watching, the effect of the ‘Mask of Illusion’ had worn off, and the men, their eyes captivated by Lucifer's appearance, tried to drag the three of them away by force.
The result?
As you can see, the men were now lying on the ground, beaten to a pulp.
After hearing Lucifer's brief explanation, I kicked one of the men lying on the ground.
BAM!!
The man went flying and crashed into a pillar in the plaza.
It would be lonely to fly alone, so I gave the rest of them a fair kick as well.
“Hoo... How dare these worthless bastards touch my women?”
A surge of heat rushed to my head.
If, as Lucifer said, one of them had succeeded in grabbing Lee Serin's wrist, I would have torn his limbs off.
Their bones must have broken from hitting the pillars, as the scumbags let out pained groans and crawled on the ground.
I might have misjudged my strength a little, but if you're going to hit on women who are already taken, you should be prepared for this much.
“To send the Black Lore guys flying like that... He must be fearless because he's a new player.”
“Is he even a new player? He looks stronger than me.”
“If he were weaker than you, he'd have been dead long ago.”
“What did you say, you bastard?”
“Tsk, tsk, of all the people to mess with, he had to pick Black Lore. Arcana is going to be noisy for a while.”
“I'd better leave the city for a bit if I don't want to get caught up in this and die a pointless death.”
To escape the growing crowd of onlookers and their attention, I immediately led the three of them out of the plaza.
A few people tried to talk to me, but I ignored them all.
They were all just clan scouters anyway.
Walking along the main street, I naturally turned into an alley. I didn't know the city's layout, but it didn't matter right now, as I just needed to shake off the pursuing gazes.
After winding our way through the complex network of paths for a while, the stares finally disappeared.
“Are you two okay?”
I brushed a piece of dust off Lee Serin's hair.
If I had known this would happen, I would have cast a protection spell on them.
“I'm fine.”
“Me too.”
Thankfully, neither of them seemed to be hurt.
But that didn't mean I was going to let this go.
Besides, from what I overheard from the people around, these guys didn't seem like the type to back down quietly even if I did nothing.
As I was taking a moment to catch my breath and plan my next move...
“...What about me?”
A low, subdued voice cut through the air.
Lucifer was glaring at me with her arms crossed.
“What about you?”
“I was there too. Why aren't you asking if I'm okay?”
A laugh escaped my lips unintentionally.
Lucifer's recent, strangely cute behavior was both unfamiliar and welcome. It meant she was trusting and relying on me more.
“Kyaa?!”
The moment my hand grabbed her breast, a sharp scream erupted.
Lucifer, her face beet red, clutched her chest and glared at me.
“Wh-what do you think you're doing!”
“It looked a little swollen, so I was just checking to see if you were hurt.”
Even though she was bundled up in clothes, their size was extraordinary. So much so that I wanted to strip her down and check them right away.
But it seemed that while kissing in front of others was fine, groping her breasts was not.
As I was smacking my lips in disappointment, someone tugged on my collar.
It was Lee Serin.
She looked somewhat anxious.
“Um... will it be okay? Those people didn't seem like they were from an ordinary clan.”
“I also heard people around us whispering that they were from Black Lore.”
I heard it too.
Black Lore. Probably the clan's name.
“Have you heard of them?”
“No. They're not a large clan, at least.”
Lucifer, straightening her clothes, shook her head.
Well, there were probably thousands of clans in the Tower; it was impossible for her to remember all of them.
Especially if it was a clan founded after she was imprisoned.
‘I need to size them up before I can make a plan.’
Of course, I could just attack them right away.
But using force within the city without a just cause was a good way to get arrested by the guards.
And I couldn't just ignore the guards, as the fact that the lord governing Arcana was a high noble weighed on my mind.
The fact that I didn't know the location of their clan house was also a problem.
Finding a reliable informant in a city I was visiting for the first time was as difficult as plucking a star from the sky.
Even if I found one, there was no guarantee they weren't a stooge for Black Lore.
“Ah! They said it themselves. Their clan house is in the Commercial District.”
“The Commercial District?”
Arcana is broadly divided into four districts: Commercial, Industrial, Administrative, and Residential. The outskirts, for reference, are the slums.
This unexpected piece of information set my mind racing.
Arcana was large, but not ridiculously so.
They would be looking for us too, so if we strolled through the Commercial District, they would approach us on their own.
Moreover, it was surprising enough that they had a clan house in the Commercial District, which had the most expensive land after the Administrative District. If they were boasting about it to women, its scale must be considerable.
‘...And I just so happened to need a building for a clan house.’
A smile naturally spread across my lips.
If this went well, I might be able to get a building without any initial investment.