Chapter 82
Chapter 82
Chapter 82 Are you a bit stupid?
I thought many others besides Baal would have noticed that I was a regressor, but this was the first time I was hearing it directly face-to-face, so I was a bit nervous.
'It feels like she already knows everything but is still asking.'
Looking at their eyes, she's already moved beyond speculation to certainty.
She just wanted to hear it directly from my mouth.
In this case, trying to deceive her would be even more of a failure.
Still, just in case, let me ask one more thing.
"The things we say here... no one else can hear them, right?"
Baal nods as if asking what kind of question that was.
"Of course. Do you think there are beings who could peek in here by breaking through my power? Even if there were, they wouldn't dare. I'm Baal."
That confidence and the intense power emanating from their body.
Though the gender was different, it was exactly the appearance of Baal that I had admired.
"Then well... as you said, I am indeed a regressor. In the first round, there was only Baal's Avatar in the tutorial, so I desperately tried to create martial arts by looking at that."
I remembered creating the Dawn Divine Art by repeatedly pushing my body to the breaking point to reach higher realms in a tutorial where only basic skills existed.
Baal claps and nods.
"Right. I thought it might be like that. Even if I didn't know about regression, I would have just sent an Avatar if I were in that position. Even if it meant accepting permanent loss of power or damage."
I was gradually finishing my analysis of Baal's personality.
'She's just a dopamine addict. This person.'
Instead of boring and pedantic things, she seem to prefer situations that give her a dopamine rush.
"But other Constellations think you're a collaborative work between me and Earth's God, right? You use Domination magic and even Predation, and even your body movements are almost exactly like mine."
Thanks to that, I also knew what other Constellations thought of me.
Actually, I'm not Earth's God's creation and Baal has probably never cooperated with Earth's God, but looking at the results alone, I think it's understandable that they'd be confused.
'How could I not misunderstand this if I were them?'
A regressor appeared who possessed the same characteristics that only Baal had, so it would be strange not to be suspicious.
This is why it'll be even more problematic when the prophecy comes down in 10 years.
When all the Constellations hear the prophecy that the strongest Demon King will be born among Earthlings, who will they think of first?
There will naturally be other candidates, but they'll think of Han Yeong-min first.
So I decided to probe Baal a bit.
"Baal. Have you ever seen other Earthlings breaking through the Testing Floors besides me?"
"Oh. When you were resting in the waiting room, I was occasionally watching other Earthlings too."
Since the waiting room was a place Constellations couldn't see, they seemed to have been watching local broadcasts in between.
"Then if you heard that a Demon King would be born among Earthlings, who would be the most likely Demon King candidate?"
"Why are you asking such a thing? Obviously it's you. You've already achieved two Qualifications for Transcendence, haven't you?"
Seeing her answer without a moment's hesitation, I'm already screwed.
*'This... I need to expand my forces not just for the Earthlings but for myself too...?'*
To the point where they can't carelessly touch Han Yeong-min.
"That's right. I can't quite grasp the last one, but I've achieved the other two."
"That's how it originally is. I'm also from mortal origins, you know. Each time I obtained a Qualification for Transcendence, it became twice as hard to get the next one, right? But I think you could achieve it quickly."
Having the strongest Demon King guarantee it was incredibly reassuring.
*'Then might it be possible by then?'*
Reaching Transcendence before the prophecy occurs.
If that's possible, it would be a huge help in preventing the tragedy.
"Ah, right. Then what's the real reason you put 'no reward' as an option? You said the grudge thing was a joke, so there must have been another reason, right?"
Come to think of it, we'd strayed too far while talking about this.
[Time remaining until return to residential area: 0 hours 12 minutes]
The remaining time wasn't that generous, so I felt I should hear the essential things first.
"Right. We were talking about that, weren't we? To explain that, I need to tell you about the Tower's reward structure and Constellation restrictions. Do you happen to know about them? Well, if you're a regressor, there's a high probability you'd know."
In the first round, I was stuck only in the tutorial, so I didn't know anything about the Tower, but thanks to my companions, I had filled in the lacking knowledge to some extent.
"I know about the reward structure. The Tower gives appropriate rewards that match your choices, right? I don't really know about Constellation restrictions though..."
Baal nods.
"Right. The reason you received tremendous things as rewards for the 10th floor was all because you skipped rewards and accumulated them in 10 layers, right? It was a difficult choice, so it returned as greater rewards."
A tremendous amount of 90 total stats, the Ex-grade trait Eternal Lord, the out-of-spec skill Greed, and finally the Mythic-grade artifact Necronomicon.
If I hadn't skipped and received rewards separately on each floor, I wouldn't have achieved such a feat.
"Constellation restrictions are similar. Constellations can't interfere with players more than necessary. When giving something, it takes a lot of power unless it's through a mission reward structure. The restrictions are somewhat reduced if you make a Constellation or Apostle contract though."
If such limitations didn't exist, they would have just showered their favorite players with all kinds of support and made them into monsters, so it was a perfectly understandable restriction.
"The reason I put 'no reward' was also that. Because you made such a choice with risk involved, I can now give you something better in this place."
She took out a golden orb that emitted an incredibly sweet fragrance from her bosom.
Odin's Eye quickly analyzed it even from a distance.
[Ambrosia (Legendary)]
"Originally, if I had given you a reward right away, a Unique-grade elixir would have been the limit, but by giving it this way, I can gift you a higher-grade elixir. How about it. Don't you want this?"
Baal rolled the Ambrosia in her hand with a mischievous smile.
But I hadn't abandoned my materialistic nature enough to play hard to get when seeing a Legendary-grade elixir.
"Yes. I really want it!"
"Then the promise you made earlier. You'll definitely keep it, right?"
The promise I made earlier must be referring to accepting the first invitation next week.
Along with the thought that Estelle wouldn't be upset about receiving the second invitation, I nodded vigorously.
"I understand!"
"Good. This is yours now."
Baal handed me the Ambrosia she had been holding.
A brilliant, shining golden elixir.
It would be too much to consume right now, so I put it in my inventory for now.
"Ah, and this time the Constellations and I made a bet about who you'd choose for the 10th floor mission, right? The person chosen last would take the most. But you chose me."
"That's right."
I wondered if they had made a bet, and it turns out they really had.
"So when you proceed with trials from now on, choose mainly my missions. When rewards stack up, I can give you similar things again. Every time we meet here."
From the 11th floor onward, the trial content changes to a different structure from the Testing Floors, and in that process, you can proceed while receiving additional missions from Constellations before starting the trials.
Naturally, the difficulty would increase, but since you can get additional rewards besides the trial rewards, if you're confident in your skills, it's normal to take on trials while receiving additional missions.
'Normally you'd choose missions from the Constellation you've contracted with, but I have no intention of contracting with anyone.'
I'd have to choose among the Constellations giving me missions, and the statement just now had decided who I should choose.
It also created a reason why I should visit Baal Mama more often in the future.
"Yes. I'll do that."
After receiving rewards and making new promises, and having some small talk afterward, time passed quickly.
[Time remaining until return to residential area: 0 hours 0 minutes]
"Time has already gotten to this point? Then I'll see you next week. I hope you'll be more delicious than now by then. So I can savor you more thoroughly."
"Yes..?"
With her incomprehensible final words, I returned to the alley of the residential area again.
'What does she mean by hoping I'll be more delicious?'
This person is also unpredictable and goes at their own pace like Estelle.
[Currently available Constellation invitations 3/5]
The remaining invitations I can currently receive are three.
Honestly, two of these spots were already practically decided.
Since everything I'm doing now is to prevent the tragedy 10 years from now and reach the best future, shouldn't I definitely meet those who are essentially the final bosses?
I immediately pressed yes to Zeus's invitation.
Then, in a palace made entirely of gold, a giant man with golden hair wearing a white chiton sat on a golden throne.
He held golden lightning containing tremendous power in his hand while arrogantly looking down at me.
[Astrape (Mythic)]
That lightning was also a Mythic-grade artifact, the original of the Legendary-grade artifact I had made for Baek Ran.
'I'm still far from catching up to the original.'
Since it was made with materials obtained only from the tutorial, I felt that with what I learned from the dwarves in the 7th floor trial, I could upgrade it if I had the materials.
For that purpose, I planned to capture and copy the structure of the original Astrape as much as possible with my eyes.
As I was earnestly analyzing Astrape, Zeus stood up from his throne and laughed heartily.
"HAHAHAHA! As expected, Han Yeong-min, you are special. You're the first human since the beginning of time who doesn't feel fear when seeing me and shows interest only in weapons."
Being more interested in weapons than Zeus himself seemed to have definitely caught his aggro.
"If you're that interested in Astrape, why don't you check it out directly."
While maintaining his laughter, he gently threw Astrape to me.
And as I caught it, I felt my power greatly increase and felt my control and power over lightning rise overwhelmingly.
It didn't gain as many various abilities as Necronomicon, but instead, there was a tremendous increase in lightning-related aspects that felt out of spec.
"This is really amazing. This. It was made by Olympus's craftsman, right?"
As I admired Astrape's performance and looked back up at Zeus, the smile had disappeared from his face.
And with a bewildered expression, he asked me.
"How... how are you holding that?"
'What are you talking about? You gave it to me.'
Of course I'm holding it because you gave it to me.
Are you a bit stupid?