The Constellation's Game [Laika]

When it came to information about the world of Laika, I apparently knew more than most Constellations did.

But that knowledge was strictly limited to the world provided on the beta server.

Which meant that when it came to anything involving the streaming system… there were moments that caught me off guard, time and time again.

Like right now.

I flinched, caught off guard. In all my time streaming, I had never once seen system messages in this format.

The Constellations' chat had always followed the standard live-stream chat layout — and this, where a viewer broadcasted their own state like a narrator's aside, was something I had never witnessed before.

And yet, somehow, it seemed I wasn't the only one who was surprised.

Posting chat in that style, it seemed, was beyond the reach of your average, run-of-the-mill Constellation(?).

Honestly, up until now, even when the static garbled things, it never registered — I didn't care one way or the other…

But this? This made me curious.

So I asked.

-Do the others not do that? Is chatting like that something special…?

The responses that came back were all variations of are you serious right now.

No, quit the small talk and just answer my question, please?

Haa. This is suffocating.

I wanted to squeeze out even a sliver more information…

And right as that thought crossed my mind, the Profligate 2nd Imperial Throne — one of my earliest viewers — read it perfectly.

But then…

The chat that followed was genuinely interesting.

I'm sorry — what?

Graduated?

Ah, I shouldn't have asked.

All it did was make me curious for no reason.

Still, the word 'graduation' itself felt like a fairly meaningful piece of information. Judging by the feel of the word alone, this was some kind of being existing in a completely different realm from the other Constellations.

Hmm.

While I was turning that over in my head, another Constellation slipped into the conversation and dropped a remark of its own. This one was quite interesting too.

Ah-ha…?

Come to think of it, hadn't the 'Lord of Gold' never once typed an actual chat message?

Now that I'd heard all this, things were getting interesting.

And… I could smell something in the air.

What smell, you ask?

The smell of massive capital, that's what.

Thank you for the kind words, hyung-nims!

Anyway, I'll keep working hard…!

Because I have a lot of money to make, you see.

Kyah — this is the class of a Graduation Constellation?

While other Constellations toss around 10 LP like pocket change, he casually flings out 300 LP like it's nothing.

It's so sweet my teeth feel like they're going to rot right out of my mouth.

I couldn't just let this slide.

Of course not. Obviously.

"Thank you, hyung-nim!"

Thwap—!

For the first time in a while, I reacted out loud and dropped into a full prostration — and the Constellations snickered with delight.

An upvote, you say.

That's exactly the point, my esteemed Constellation.

So please, spread the word about the stream far and wide… and if you'd be so kind, put down some roots here while you're at it. Yes.

"Heh heh heh."

A giggle keeps slipping out of me, but there's no need to hide it.

After all, the Constellations love it even more when I act like I'm one screw short of a full set.

You're absolutely right, hyung-nim.

Dragging things out for no reason and boring the Lord of Gold… such an outcome must be avoided at all costs.

Ding—!

Checking the message I'd been waiting for, I took a deep breath and strode into the depths of the Hall of Truth.

Boom. Boom.

The final gate. If I made it through here safely… I would finally achieve my first 1st Class Advancement — not as a beta player, but for real this time.

KA-BOOM—!

Watching the structures of the space violently twist and warp amid the roar, I pushed my senses to their absolute limit.

This place… was genuinely difficult.

"Hoo."

One might think this was the end of it, but in truth, this was the main course of the Seeker's Altar quest.

And what spread out before my eyes was, even among its trials, the one with the highest difficulty of all — the Path of Chaos.

Even during the beta, I could count on one hand the times I'd cleared the Path of Chaos in a single run… so there was no doubt this would be the toughest barrier I'd faced since starting my play as 'Dave'.

But from the very moment I'd decided to choose this path… retiring had never been on the table. Not even once.

Why, you ask?

Clack—!

Because I was no longer the beta-tester hero Lee Gunyul.

Dave, the fully-fledged hero… apparently had a little more talent than I'd had during the beta, it seemed.

Pardon?

It was mage-type aptitude that the Fairy said was my least-terrible talent… wasn't it?

The Lord of Gold had laid out the mission's clear conditions as follows:

But depending on how you interpreted that condition, there was some wiggle room.

Strictly speaking, the moment the advancement quest changed from 'Voyager of the Azure Sky' to 'The Seeker's Altar'… the 'basic options' — the Voyager's equipment — became impossible to choose in the first place. Which meant that simply clearing the quest would have satisfied every condition.

The one ambiguous point was how far the Lord of Gold considered the scope of 'basic options' to extend.

If he counted the 'Hall of Truth choices' — the ones that only appear once you reach Phase 3 of the Seeker's Altar — as basic options too… then the instant I picked any one of the three choices, the mission would have failed.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

So I eliminated the choices altogether.

Discarding every option and stepping onto the Path of Chaos was… also a good way to raise the ceiling of my class gacha, after all.

Well, looking back at the outcome…

The Constellation 'Lord of Gold' thinks there was no need to go that far.

Apparently he'd intended to acknowledge the mission conditions as fulfilled the moment I merely arrived at the Seeker's Altar.

But even if I'd known that in advance, I would have made the exact same choice.

Somehow or other, I'd ended up choosing a pure luck-based random gacha for my very first class… so I might as well maximize the ceiling, no?

Even if, thanks to that decision… I found myself contorting my entire body like this.

Vrrrrm—!!

Fwiiing—!

Ping—! Ping—!

Its HP bar is absurdly thick, seriously.

Just when is this thing going to die?

Why, you ask?

Because without going this far, this quest simply can't be cleared, that's why.

How on earth is a Level 20 classless player supposed to take down a Level 37 Epic monster by any normal means?

Nope, wrong.

There's one bizarre class out there — the Spellbow.

It's selectable at the 2nd Class Advancement… and it's not even a hidden class, mind you.

Clack—

How do I know all this, you ask?

Believe me, I never wanted to know eith—

The Constellations kept chattering away, but I was in no state to read every message properly.

My farmed mana potions were running dry, which meant I had to finish this with the current combo if at all possible.

ZZZ-CRACK—!!

So, throwing every tool available in this situation into the mix, I unleashed my final barrage upon that walking piggy bank of blood.

After dumping every last attack into the fight, I leapt backward, putting as much distance between myself and the beast as I could.

That barrage should have been enough to bring it down…

But if my damage fell short, I would need to spend the coming minutes kiting for my life while scraping together mana, so caution came first.

Fortunately, my final arrow succeeded in cutting off the monster's windpipe for good.

Ding—!

"…!"

At long last, the advancement quest that had dragged on for the better ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠part of half a day had come to an end.

With the arrival of the long-awaited system messages, the wall that had sealed the center of the Hall of Truth came crashing down.

GRUUUUMBLE—!

The central hall opened up in a flood of light, and a blinding white radiance poured down into the heart of the chamber.

The Constellations were right.

The space revealed by the crumbling wall was none other than the 'Seeker's Altar' — the very namesake of this quest.

All that remained was to climb up onto it, and I would finally be able to take my 1st Class Advancement.

All this grand packaging — for a luck-based random gacha, of all things.

Boom. Boom.

With that thought, I stepped up onto the altar.

And in that instant… maybe it was just my imagination, but I had the distinct feeling that every thread of light illuminating the altar came pouring down upon me alone.