One Hundred Rewards
But it was a strange affair.
The Constellation of Purity had clearly stated with his own mouth that he was a being who had entered the Gate of Truth and come back out again.
Now that the truth was known, a natural curiosity arose toward the one who had known a “secret” even he himself had never grasped.
“... Who the hell are you?”
“Hmm. Unfortunately, I don’t know who I am either. But there is one thing I do know.”
“What is that?”
“That only by capturing Park Hyunmyeong can one claim victory in the grand competition among the one hundred Halls of One Hundred Constellations!”
In this world, a full one hundred Halls of One Hundred Constellations existed.
A total of ten thousand Constellations resided within them, bestowing trials and rewards upon countless mortals.
By watching the stories of those mortals and acquiring Starlight and Golden Rule, the Constellations could grow stronger.
And now.
Park Hyunmyeong had achieved a feat that even the System could not calculate.
It was self-evident that every Hall of One Hundred Constellations would flock to witness his story.
They would be waiting, hoping desperately that he would reach out for the rewards they offered.
“What reward should our Thirteenth Hall of One Hundred Constellations present to him? Among the countless options, how do we make Park Hyunmyeong choose ours?”
“... You’re saying there are a full one hundred Halls of One Hundred Constellations just like this place?”
“Because it isn’t only the human Halls that exist. But the story is different now. Even the Constellations from Halls assigned to other races have all begun to take notice of Park Hyunmyeong.”
He was different even from Randolph.
The sole achiever of a feat for which the System had abandoned scoring altogether.
Until now it had somehow managed to spit out scores.
Though they did not yet know that Park Hyunmyeong was Randolph, the Hall that offered the reward he chose would likely come to learn that fact as well.
The competition would only grow fiercer, and there was even the possibility that Park Hyunmyeong might leave their embrace entirely.
The Constellation of Purity shrugged his shoulders.
“So, what reward should we offer him?”
Having heard the hidden tale and reached my conclusion, I left the dungeon without a moment’s delay.
At that very instant.
Party Dungeon Cleared!
Acquired 267 ‘Forgotten Knight’s Souls’.
Dignity exceeding 1,000 points is converted into 1 Perfect Golden Rule per 100 points.
Additionally, the commander may select and resurrect one of the forgotten honorable knight orders from the dungeon.
Their souls and wills awaken as ‘Sacred Knights’.
‘Sacred Knights’ stand in opposition to the ‘Knights of Ruin’ and exert greater power upon the ‘Sacred Ground’.
‘Sacred Ground’ is automatically applied to any land where a Forgotten God has been revived.
Alternatively, 1 Sacredness may be expended to sanctify land that already possesses a god.
O one who cleared the First Dungeon.
O supreme being who achieved an incalculable trial!
Total Score: 1,000+? points
Precise settlement is impossible.
◈ 3 Perfect Golden Rules
◈ Fragment of the Golden Rule (3,000h)
◈ 5,000 Interest Points
You possess a Lucky Dice.
The grade of the entire 101-tier reward list is elevated.
All Constellations of every Hall of One Hundred Constellations have gathered Starlight and finalized the reward grades.
Select one of the one hundred rewards below.
《Ahure’s Night》, 《Source of Mana》, 《Outer God’s Feather》, 《Two Moons》, 《Tananush’s Stone》, 《Completed Star Chart》, 《Jurn’s Jewel》, 《Uroboros》, 《Primordial Arrow》, 《Purity》, 《Courage》······
Endless messages rose before my eyes.
“······.”
I lost the ability to speak as I stared at them.
More than anything else, the final reward list was simply overwhelming.
A full one hundred rewards poured forth like a flood.
I had never seen a list of this sheer volume before.
Yet even more astonishing than the number were the names themselves.
As many as the entries on the list—no, far beyond that—the names of the things being offered as rewards left me stunned.
“······ This is absurd.”
I was purely, utterly overwhelmed.
The World Tree Community.
I had resolved countless trials and received rewards until now, yet never once had I experienced a situation that made my eyes spin like this.
There were many names I had never seen before.
Yet even the ones I recognized—or could at least guess at—were a whole new world unto themselves.
‘Source of Mana, Uroboros, Purity, Courage······.’
One thing was certain.
‘These are items that have never once appeared in Pangenia.’
Related names might have been mentioned, but the items themselves had never revealed their true forms.
Therefore I could not intuitively grasp their grades.
Yet these were the rewards that had appeared after clearing a Primal-grade dungeon.
At a single glance I could tell they were far more noble and exalted than ordinary Unique-grade items.
‘At the very least, None-grade!’
The grade system that existed in Pangenia.
Unlike the game, the grades that manifested in reality carried slight differences.
For example, None-grade, Beyond Spec, and Primal-grade had never existed in the game.
Thus the real grades I had currently identified ran in this order: Normal, Legend, Myth, Unique, Supreme Unique, None, Primal, Beyond Spec.
‘But from None-grade upward, the raw performance does not differ all that greatly. Depending on the use, one might be better or worse than another.’
From None-grade onward, the options they contained transcended imagination.
Yet advancing to a higher grade did not make them exceptionally superior.
They were simply more specialized.
The Archetypal Armor, the Gloves of Calamity and Ash,
the Mystery of Eternal Randolph that destroyed Beyond-Spec Mysteries, the Martial God itself,
and even the None-grade ring I currently wore—the Phase of the Radiant Pureblood—were all items that displayed absurd performance within their respective domains, their uses fixed and absolute.
Therefore every one of the one hundred items that had appeared on the list now was—
‘A treasure possessing abilities that have never appeared until this moment.’
Treasures whose value could not even be calculated!
I had already gained a mountain of things while clearing the dungeon, yet the rewards pouring down like a tidal wave left me unable to collect my thoughts.
Moreover, this reward list was clearly different from every previous one.
‘All the Constellations of every Hall of One Hundred Constellations gathered Starlight······.’
Didn’t the wording feel a little strange?
Not “all the Constellations of the Hall,” but “the Constellations of every Hall.”
It was phrased as though multiple Halls of One Hundred Constellations had pooled their strength.
That was not the only oddity.
‘There is also no reaction from the Constellations that invariably appeared whenever a quest was cleared. There were even times they refused to offer rewards when I posted transcendent scores.’
Constellations prepared rewards by expending their own Starlight.
When they exhausted all of it, they vanished.
They reacted according to the results of the trials and had even proposed deals to me before.
Yet now there was neither reaction nor any sort of proposal.
To prepare rewards of this magnitude would require an enormous quantity of Starlight.
Which meant—
‘I had considered the possibility that there might be multiple Halls before.’
After all, Constellations I had never seen before had once rushed forward demanding apostle contracts.
I had thought there might be several Halls, or that there might simply be more Constellations than expected.
They had proposed deals even when creating Unique-grade or higher rewards, yet here was a list of one hundred rewards that surpassed even that.
‘Every single one of them is desperate to have me choose their reward······.’
I absently stroked my chin.
Perhaps the choice of reward was more important than I had thought.
If they had all fallen silent and reached a tacit agreement to simply present “rewards” and wait for my selection······.
No—perhaps this was a test.
A trial to examine my eye for quality.
Who knew whether they had mixed inferior items among the impressive-sounding names?
······ Yet no matter how I looked at it, the items all bore unique proper nouns far too singular for that to be the case.
‘Uroboros. The name of a star that has never appeared until now.’
Especially Uroboros.
I myself possessed a stigma related to it.
The Stigma of Uroboros, which increased stamina and natural regeneration and granted the effect of “Indomitable,” allowing one to endure pain that surpassed the limits!
Yet the true identity of that name was a “star.”
One of the thirty-two stars of the shattered Leah, and one of the extremely few stars that had never appeared until now.
A super-named existence I estimated to possess a higher rank than the “Jormungandr” held by Isabella.
Expressing the proper noun exactly as it was might mean they intended to transfer the star Uroboros itself to me.
‘Purity, Courage······ concepts that stand one hundred eighty degrees opposite the sins.’
And that was not all.
The other rewards bearing unique proper nouns were no less formidable.
Each and every one of them was something that could not be treated lightly.
My dilemma only deepened.
‘This is difficult.’
I simply could not choose.
A single selection.
One reward.
No matter how magnificent it might be, if it was something I did not need, it would be no better than trash.
Then a single thought flashed through my mind.
‘The Constellation of the Most Brilliant Hero. He would know what reward I need and what I desire.’
If there was any Constellation with whom I had shared the most communion, it was him.
The Constellation of the Most Brilliant Hero.
The Constellation who had watched my story, subscribed to Randolph, and never stinted on countless forms of support.
Just as he had once guided me to select “Winter (Ultimate Twilight)” from the rewards, there was a possibility he was deeply involved this time as well.
‘If only I could communicate with him.’
At that very moment.
Notice. The ‘World Tree Community’ has been opened.
In the ‘World Tree Community’ you may communicate directly and anonymously with Constellations.
By using Fragments of the Golden Rule to ask questions, Constellations will leave answers.
The more Golden Rule fragments you use, the higher the Constellations’ participation rate becomes.
Once you know the answer you desire, adopt a reply. Failure to adopt may lower the gods’ participation rate.
However, take note: not every answer from a Constellation is correct.
Additionally, in the ‘World Tree Community’ you may purchase ‘strategies’—know-how accumulated over long ages.
Or you may sell your own ‘strategies’ at a fair price.
Strategies are protected by a secret oath and may be used only by the purchaser.
Violating the oath incurs a severe penalty and restricts use of the ‘World Tree Community’.
A notice that had appeared out of nowhere.
‘What is this······.’
······ Come to think of it, I seemed to have seen something related before.
It had been buried beneath the sheer volume of messages, but I never imagined it would be for a purpose like this.
I immediately decided to make use of it.
You have entered the ‘World Tree Community’.
You are the first to enter the ‘World Tree Community’.
Achievement ‘First Entrant’ acquired.
1 Sacredness added.
You must set a nickname to use in the ‘World Tree Community’.
A nickname?
They wanted me to participate under an alias?
I stroked my chin.
A place where one could communicate with the gods.
If every Awakener could use it······.
Set nickname as ‘KingWangJjang’?
“Ah······.”
That wasn’t it.
I pondered for a moment.
I had created countless characters, yet the hardest thing in the world was always inventing a nickname.
After some thought I mentioned a new one.
Set nickname as ‘Phantom’?
I gave a light nod.
This, more than anything, was closest to my true identity.
⊳ 1. Ask the Constellations a Question
⊳ 2. View Answerer Rankings
⊳ 3. View Strategy Posts (0)
⊳ 4. Write a Strategy Post
It was surprisingly simple.
Only four boards were visible at a glance.
I immediately looked at the “Ask the Constellations a Question” board.
You may post questions to the Constellations using anywhere from a minimum of 0 to an unlimited amount of Golden Rule fragments as a condition.
Question posts are guaranteed to remain confidential.
How many hours’ worth of fragments should I stake?
I shrugged and assigned the Golden Rule fragments for the question.
‘Phantom’ is writing a question post using 0 hours’ worth of Golden Rule fragments.
······ If my prediction was correct, there was no reason to stake anything.
They wanted me to choose their rewards, after all.
I wrote down every one of the one hundred names that had appeared on the reward list.
Just how would the Constellations react?
For a while there was no response.
‘Was zero hours too stingy?’
Maybe I should have staked at least one hour out of courtesy.
In that brief instant.
Not particularly kind, but not a bad answer either.
Yet something about it felt off.
‘He wants me to become his apostle.’
Obviously he intended to make me his apostle.
The authority of immortality was extremely tempting, yet had I not already realized the truth while looking upon the Forgotten Gods?
Immortality alone was not the answer.
‘Is the “Low Rank” attached after the name the grade of the answering gods?’
Then the more they were adopted, the higher the grade they obtained?
Assigning grades to Constellations—what an amusing idea.
And from that moment onward.
Answers poured in without end.
They flooded in so thickly there was no time even to read them.
The names of the Constellations were all equally extraordinary.
Beings one should not simply skip past.
How long did that continue?
······ At last, a reply had arrived from the being I desired.
Moreover, this seemed to be the first time we had properly communicated.
I smiled.
It seemed he was just as glad to see me as I was to see him.