Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Chapter 9
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```html
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Constellation Gallery EP.8
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"Get some food."
"Y-Yes...? B-But if I die..."
"Right now, you won't die easily as long as you don't panic."
"B-But... the monsters..."
"What you need to watch out for isn't the monsters. It's humans."
The woman blinked, as if she didn't understand.
I let out a sigh and added,
"The monsters appearing now move slower than you'd think. You can run if you run into them. So, run if it's dangerous, and gather food if it's safe."
Crazy bastards.
Is this the time for me and the woman to be ha-ha-ho-ho-ing?
"Try it once, and if you feel like you can handle it, you can live like that without coming back to me. But if you're going to ask me for help, prove your usefulness first."
The woman gulped.
Fear and hesitation filled her face.
But in the end, she bit her lip as if resolving herself and nodded.
"I-I'll try..."
"Then go quickly."
"But... can't we go together?"
"I'm leaving food procurement to you, so I'm planning to go get medicine."
"A-Ah, okay... Then where do we meet...?"
I thought for a moment at the woman's question before answering.
"Once you find a place to gather food, don't move from there and guard the supplies. If you judge it's dangerous, don't force it—run away. Got it?"
The woman nodded again.
'She'll be fine if we split up like this.'
Thinking that separating her was worth a shot at worst, I turned my steps.
My goal was clear.
I had to raid someplace like a hospital.
'Medical equipment is necessary along with medicine.'
Not that it had to be anything fancy.
To suture open wounds, I needed things like surgical thread and needles.
Potions would cleanly heal freshly made wounds amid the pain, but gold was more precious than the pain.
'While gathering medicine, I'll look for them too... If I can't find any, I'll grab a stapler or something.'
The moment I grasped the content, I lit up.
It was my first time receiving one, so I was intrigued.
"Oh, a potion sponsor?"
More than that, I understood that the ‘One Smiling in the Red Twilight’ appearing before the sponsor message was a descriptor nickname tied to their true name.
'But what's the point... if I don't know who it actually is.'
Anyway, there was something even stranger than the descriptor.
An alarm had rung, but the item hadn't appeared in front of me.
'What is this? Where did it go?'
I patted myself down, but nothing new had appeared.
Did I really receive the sponsor?
Just in case, I checked the Constellation Gallery.
Ah... I nearly sighed reading the gallery.
You fuckers. Mocking me hard.
"Inventory."
──────────────
[Inventory]
▶ Equipment ▶ Consumables ▶ Materials ▶ Tools ▶ Bound
──────────────
(All slots empty except Consumables)
As I quietly spoke, a new window appeared before my eyes.
──────────────
The inventory itself was intuitive.
Touching it lightly with my finger, it was similar to the status window.
Nothing particularly difficult or complicated.
In other words, the inventory could be handled without touching it, just like the status window or Constellation Gallery.
In short, it was a convenient method not much different from handling system windows in the 2030s.
I checked each category one by one.
All slots were completely empty.
Except for one.
In Consumables, there was a ‘Low-grade Bio Recovery Potion’ with a sparkling ‘NEW’ mark next to it, and two unidentified scrolls also had ‘NEW’ marks.
'Potion makes sense... but what are these scrolls?'
They weren't the same scroll, each occupying a slot.
"Attack power scrolls?"
They were going on about levels and stuff, but this is totally like a game?
More than that, when did I get these?
I definitely just got my first sponsor now?
Reading the posts, it seemed I got lucky... but it didn't feel like 'jackpot' as much as I'd thought.
Maybe because I hadn't felt the scrolls' utility yet.
'Anyway, so that's how it is.'
More than that, the inventory slots were fewer than expected.
4x5 per tab... a measly 20 slots.
I probably wouldn't fill them carrying stuff around, but seeing these tiny slots bugged me.
'It is the first, you fuckers...'
More than that, do they not know if I got a sponsor or not?
Earlier, I had to say it out loud to get it?
'If that's the case...'
Reading the mood, I deliberately spoke aloud.
"So contracts aren't the end—you send sponsors too. First time receiving one, it's so amazing."
Sponsors started pouring in.
Of course, pocket change sponsors...
The item sponsors were at least high-value if converted to gold.
'These Constellation bastards are so damn stingy.'
If you're sponsoring, send big.
This ain't crowdfunding.
Still, watching the nonstop alarms continue for a while, I smirked.
'But this... ain't bad at all.'
Just standing here, gold trickles in steadily.
Watching it pile up floods me with dopamine.
Ah, not the time.
Gotta do what I was doing. Head to the hospital.
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