The Polluted Throne's Gift

In the highest throne room of Pandemonium.

Baal sat upon the black throne, gazing down at the grand hall with a bored expression.

A figure wrapped entirely in a black robe.

The administrator of the Tower of Babel raised his head in a respectful posture.

"Master of the Polluted Throne."

"What brings you here, Administrator?"

"You already know the reason, Great Constellation."

Baal burst into roaring laughter. The grand hall he occupied, the Palace of Ten Thousand Demons, shook as if struck by an earthquake.

"Administrator, did you come all this way to hold me responsible?"

"How could that be?"

"It should be. After all, you couldn't have built the tower with your own power alone."

Baal flicked his hand. A fierce wind swirled through the hall, tossing the administrator's robe in every direction.

"That's why you've hidden your face so deeply inside that robe."

Baal giggled once more.

The builders of the tower.

The Old Gods.

Those pushed aside by the flow of time had concealed their identities and approached the gods of the current era.

They created a trial space spanning multiple dimensions and proposed to watch the process of mortals ascending it.

Only now had the constellations learned the administrator's true identity, yet they turned a blind eye for the sake of the entertainment the tower provided.

"Protests have arrived from Olympus, Angelos, and many other societies."

"Hehe, I know. I'll simply pay the appropriate amount of Spirituality."

Spirituality.

It was the currency that allowed constellations to exert influence over the tower.

The administrator bowed his head, spun on his heel, and left.

Baal erased the languid look from his eyes and watched the administrator depart.

If it's the purple-haired administrator, is it that one?

Lurien, the God of Magic.

A key figure involved in building the tower.

The fact that she had stepped forward meant the current situation was serious.

Yet Baal wore a wide grin.

Good thing I listened to that little brat.

Hermes.

The messenger god of Olympus had visited only a few hours earlier.

"There is a player in the Tutorial Korea channel that both Ares and the Evil of Heaven are watching."

What Hermes had told him.

Ares was notorious as Olympus's thug, but the constellation known as the Evil of Heaven was different.

A powerful constellation who stood shoulder to shoulder with Baal, the master of Pandemonium, and Zeus, the King of Gods.

Baal grew interested.

A player that the Evil of Heaven was paying attention to!

He had paid an enormous amount of Spirituality to interfere with the tutorial purely to satisfy that curiosity.

Despite the massive expenditure, Baal felt no regret whatsoever.

Thanks to it, he had discovered an interesting mortal.

Yu Jinho.

Baal savored the name.

Dark red energy flickered in his hand once more.

"Since you showed me something entertaining, I suppose I should give a gift in return?"

"This is going to be very fun. Hehehe."

A strange light gleamed in Baal's yellow eyes.

How long had I been lying in the swamp, gasping for breath?

Wow.

This was the second Legendary-grade item after the Shadow Orb.

And it was a growth-type artifact as well.

It wasn't quite a holy relic, but the reward was still incredible.

I slowly examined the information on the Mouth of Gluttony.

Mana Absorb. A very useful embedded skill.

If the angle was right, it could absorb projectile attacks.

It wouldn't work on physical objects like arrows or bullets, but magic could be completely nullified with proper positioning.

Absorbing projectiles with Mana Absorb would even restore my magic power.

Right now my mana overflowed thanks to the Dragon Heart, but once I obtained higher-grade essences, consumption would rise accordingly.

Considering the future, this embedded skill was even more valuable.

Was it worth risking my life against Baal after all?

A growth-type artifact that started at Legendary grade said everything.

I smiled with deep satisfaction.

"Why are you smiling like that, contractor?"

"The reward is better than I expected."

Legendary—one step above Unique.

If the conditions were met, it could grow all the way to Epic or even Transcendent grade.

Transcendent items had been extremely rare even in my previous life, back when the world was ending.

I had no idea how far the Mouth of Gluttony could grow, but there was no denying it was an artifact far too good to obtain in the tutorial.

I slipped the ring, which glowed with a yellow light, onto the ring finger of my right hand.

The stat bonus applied immediately.

I would need to test the Mana Absorb skill in actual combat to fully understand how it worked.

I wonder what reward I would have gotten for defeating the Swamp Demon King normally.

Perhaps a Unique item, just like in the Forgotten Temple.

It was knowledge I didn't possess in my first round, so I could only guess.

"You seem quite pleased."

"Yeah. Thanks to this, I think I'll be able to keep my promise to the goddess much sooner."

"The promise has already been made."

"What do you mean?"

"We are telling you not to throw yourself into danger merely because of the contract with us."

Oh dear. It seemed she had misunderstood.

She apparently believed the reason I was trying to become stronger as quickly as possible was because of our contract.

"That's not it..."

The moment I tried to answer Nyx, an eerie energy surged from the ring on my finger.

The dark red energy that erupted from the ring instantly seeped into my skin.

An overwhelming surge of power.

It felt similar to the time I had faced Gaia's essence in Athens.

"Why are you giving this to me!"

My eyes widened.

A god's blessing wasn't something one could obtain easily.

It was a powerful authority that could only be gained by selecting the constellation as one's guardian.

The fact that I had obtained the Earth Mother's Blessing was only possible because of the Devour variable, but this was an entirely different story.

Since the constellation had granted the blessing directly, there was no penalty or risk involved.

"Wow, this is incredible."

I had received an unbelievable gift from Baal.

I hadn't even formed a guardian contract with him, yet I received his blessing.

He must have taken quite a liking to me.

"Contractor, what is that unpleasant power?"

"Ah, the constellation I clashed with earlier shared a portion of his power as a gift."

"How dare another constellation give a blessing to our contractor before we could! They ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have stolen the lead!"

Um, I already have the Earth Mother's Blessing, you know.

Please check the status window properly.

"Contractor, surely you are not thinking of forming ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a contract with that mud lump instead of us?"

"Come on, we have to respect the proper order."

Our goddess.

Because she knew nothing about the Tower of Babel, she was desperately trying to hold onto me—her only connection.

"Baal probably gave this as a way of proposing a guardian constellation contract."

"A guardian constellation contract?"

"Yeah. Normally they grant the blessing after the contract is formed, but..."

I trailed off.

It seemed Baal had been quite impressed by my performance.

"In that case, if that mud lump offers you the guardian contract, will you accept?"

"No way. I only have you, goddess."

"Contractor!"

Nyx sounded moved.

Well... even without Nyx, I had no intention of signing any guardian contract.

A guardian constellation contract was like a sponsor in sports.

You received various helpful supports, but you would occasionally have to act according to the constellation's commands.

It was quite a heavy restriction.

For someone who possessed knowledge from the previous timeline, the disadvantages far outweighed the benefits.

Especially once the tower begins eroding the world.

Constellations didn't care whether Earth survived or perished.

They even offered to transfer contracted players to other worlds.

In the previous timeline, only an extremely small ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠number of people had escaped the world's destruction and fled to paradise.

I had no desire for that kind of future.

That didn't mean I wouldn't use what I had already received.

I'll make good use of it, dear Constellation.

I grinned and tested the Blessing of Greed.

The ability to erode anything.

I reached toward the swamp and unleashed the power of Greed. Dark red magic power spread outward like blood vessels.

"Oh?"

The eroded clump of mud was now recognized as part of my own flesh and muscle.

I poured in additional magic power.

Part of the boiling swamp rose up like the Swamp Demon King, stretching long and taking the shape of a tentacle.

I swung the tentacle experimentally.

A nearby tree snapped with a loud crack.

"So this is how it works."

I withdrew the magic power of Greed.

The mud collapsed back into the swamp.

The Blessing of Greed that Baal had given me could change the properties of matter using my own magic power.

I could strengthen it or alter its shape.

The magic consumption was severe, however.

The cost performance is a bit lacking.

The amount of magic power used to swing that mud whip could have fired ten Energy Bolts.

While it had a wider range of applications than the Earth Mother's Blessing, its consumption was correspondingly higher.

The activation speed was still rather slow as well.

It looked like I would need to go through considerable trial and error before I could properly utilize the power of the Blessing of Greed.

Since it's erosion, maybe I can use it this way too?

A sudden idea occurred to me.

If it could erode anything regardless of type... couldn't I strengthen my own body as well?

"It actually works?"

I couldn't freely change its shape like I had with the mud.

But the cutting force had risen by an entire level, giving it power comparable to a two-star skill.

"Is that dark red energy the blessing of that constellation?"

"Yes."

"It truly carries an unpleasant stench."

I shrugged.

Even if Nyx disliked it, I intended to use any means available to increase my combat ability.

I applied the Blessing of Greed to my Thorn Armor as well.

Its durability and the sharpness of its thorns became far more threatening.

On the other hand.

Even with the Dragon Heart's effect, my mana was being consumed little by little.

That's perfect.

Since I had more than enough mana anyway, using the Blessing of Greed felt like no burden at all.

Was there any other player in the tutorial stage who possessed two divine blessings?

Even considering both before and after my regression, it would only be me.

"Ah. I almost forgot."

Just because Baal had showered me with rewards didn't mean I could forget the fundamentals.

My true foundation was Devour.

Beneath my rear, the corpse of Baal—no, the 'Swamp Demon King' he had possessed—was still melting away.

The Mouth of Gluttony and Baal's blessing were both priceless rewards unobtainable in the tutorial, but my feast was not over yet.

"Hehe. What will you give me?"

I stretched my palm toward the mud clump and activated Devour.

The moisture that had filled the swamp evaporated, and the hill-high pile of dirt turned to powder.

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

Finally.

After I completely absorbed the essence of the Swamp Demon King through Devour, the entire hundred-meter radius around me dried up completely.

It seemed the swamp itself that had covered the area had been the Swamp Demon King.