Chapter 5 – Sudden Rift

The night before the scheduled first synchronization, in the women’s dormitory.

Yu Sehee had heard Lee Hanseong’s warning, but out of defiance, she ignored it and lay down on her bed.

She intended to just sleep like this.

‘As if I’m going to die.’

But sleep wouldn’t come.

As she lay still, she suddenly wondered, if she were to die as Lee Hanseong said, what could possibly be the reason.

‘If I die, what on earth would cause it?’

The fact that he tried to move up the first synchronization to save her meant the time of death was before the scheduled first synchronization.

So, it was probably tonight.

‘What could cause a death at a training center in a mountain valley…’

Various hypotheses rose and faded in her mind.

A disgruntled soldier’s indiscriminate shooting.

An accident caused by an unidentified Awakened Monster descending from the mountain.

An accidental murder by a competitor harboring malice towards her.

Terrorism by a criminal group targeting promising candidates.

A coincidental Sudden Rift… and so on.

‘Ah, come on.’

Certainly, even a body adapted to Starlight through a week of physical training would have no choice but to die if such things happened, but the probability of those things actually occurring was extremely rare.

‘If what Lee Hanseong saw wasn’t the real future, but the worst-case scenario that almost never happens, then it makes sense.’

A false future, not the real one.

It wouldn’t be strange for a 1-Star Spirit to have such a Skill.

Having reached that conclusion, she felt at ease.

Sleep was gently coming.

Click.

It was then that an anomalous sound came from the window.

“……!”

Her mind jolted awake, and sleep vanished completely.

‘…An intruder?’

Careful not to make a sound, she slipped out of bed and approached the window.

Grabbing the iron stand from the bedside table as a weapon.

Screech.

Someone outside opened the window.

She raised the stand overhead, ready to strike down at any moment.

And the moment a person’s head rose into view through the opened window.

Whoosh-!

The stand was swung powerfully towards the intruder.

Thwack!

But the stand was futilely caught in the opponent’s hand.

Two people, eyes meeting across the stand.

Only then did the opponent’s face come into view, and Yu Sehee’s expression turned fierce.

“Lee Hanseong? You…!”

“I came to protect you.”

“…Don’t you know a man entering the women’s dormitory without permission gets you expelled?”

“I can’t just let you die over something like that.”

Lee Hanseong’s gaze as he said that was straightforward.

Even if it was due to a misunderstanding, his sincerity in wanting to protect her felt genuine.

Actually, the reason she disliked Lee Hanseong was his frivolous attitude.

Discriminating against people based on the size of their Vessel of the Stars was fine.

After all, almost everyone after the Great Cataclysm harbored such thoughts.

The problem was he blatantly displayed those thoughts in his actions.

There are nice pieces of trash and waste-level pieces of trash. He was the latter.

Even when he used to pester her before, he couldn’t hide his frustration that her talent was the highest among girls her age.

But the current Lee Hanseong was somehow different.

Yu Sehee, who was about to get angry, quietly listened to what he had to say.

“There’s no time. A Sudden Rift will open soon. We need to complete the Starlight Baptism before that.”

So the future he saw was a Sudden Rift?

Somehow, his appearance, frantic over a future that wouldn’t even happen, seemed cute.

But that wasn’t reason enough for her to receive the Starlight Baptism in front of Lee Hanseong.

“Why should I trust you and receive the Starlight Baptism in front of you?”

During Starlight Baptism, one becomes vulnerable to external interference, so recklessly receiving it in front of others was dangerous.

As if sensing her distrust, Lee Hanseong used a Skill to prove his sincerity.

“[I, Lee Hanseong, will protect Yu Sehee with my life.]”

Clank!

The words he uttered transformed into chains of Starlight, binding Lee Hanseong.

One Skill came to mind at that sight.

‘The <Vow> Skill?’

A Vow is an Oath made to the heavens.

If the content of the Vow is broken, the heavens… the Constellations directly execute the penalty.

She had only heard about it in passing, but knowing even a hint of its weight, she couldn’t help but be astonished.

“Do you believe me a little now?”

“You… you really staked your life? You’re really crazy.”

She never imagined Lee Hanseong would go this far.

Since the other party had even staked their life, she thought it was proper to at least meet them halfway.

What if the Sudden Rift doesn’t happen.

She could just think she received the Starlight Baptism a little earlier.

Since today was originally the scheduled synchronization day anyway, the burden of breaking the rules wasn’t great.

“Alright. I’ll trust you.”

At her affirmative answer, born from those thoughts, Lee Hanseong smiled brightly.

‘…Lee Hanseong, do you really like me?’

His purely joyful appearance made Lee Hanseong’s heart no longer seem as frivolous as before.

Trusting Lee Hanseong’s Vow, Yu Sehee sat on the bed in the Lotus Position.

And immersing herself within, she began synchronizing with her Spirit.

* * *

Watching Yu Sehee begin to sweat transparent sweat while receiving the Starlight Baptism, Lee Hanseong let out a sigh.

He had worried about waste products being expelled during the baptism, but it was an unnecessary concern.

Her body, having almost fully adapted to Starlight over the week, had almost no waste products.

“Roughly an hour until it’s over…”

Considering that most of the Starlight Baptism’s effects focus on the process of accepting the Spirit’s Skills, Treasure Vessels, and Awakening Skills rather than physical changes, that was the minimum.

If she had attempted Body Reformation early like the other two promising candidates, it would have taken three hours including the time for physical changes.

“No time to stop by the armory.”

The Sudden Rift occurrence time Lee Hanseong remembered was within an hour from now.

The monsters would appear before Yu Sehee’s Starlight Baptism ended.

Persuading Yu Sehee immediately was the top priority, so he had no choice but to come empty-handed, but facing monsters without a weapon was foolish.

“Well, I can just make a weapon.”

The Vocation Awakening Skill of the blacksmith Spirit ‘Non Smith’ (★) he had contracted with made it sufficiently possible.

Non Smith, a blacksmith without talent, burned himself before death to create a masterpiece, and that Feat, blessed by the Steel Throne, turned him into a Spirit.

The Vocation Awakening Skill born from that process was 《Demon Sword Crafting》.

‘To activate a Vocation Awakening Skill, a life-risking resolve is needed.’

And now, due to the Vow to protect Yu Sehee with his life, that condition was already satisfied.

Shoooooo-

Using the iron stand taken from Yu Sehee as material, he burned one of the nine lives from Narrow Escape from Death, pouring out Starlight.

《Demon Sword Crafting》!

Amid the swirling Starlight, the form of the stand gradually transformed into a sword.

It was the moment a new demon sword was born.

Gooooo!

As the stand didn’t contain much iron, the completed demon sword was a dagger.

Length from elbow to fingertip.

It felt a bit short, but the unique black Killing Intent of the demon sword coiled around the blade, creating a saw-like sharpness, so even as a dagger, its lethality was sufficient.

‘Now I feel a bit relieved.’

Although one life was reduced, thinking this demon sword would save him in the future made it not so regrettable.

Around the time his rough combat preparations were finished.

Wheeeeeeeeeen!

The emergency siren linked to the rift detector began to resound throughout the training center.

‘What was coming has come.’

Looking at the sky outside the window, a rift in the void splitting the pallid full moon came into view.

Crackle! Crack!

The forked ends of the gradually expanding rift fell to the ground like black lightning.

Each time, a pair of monsters appeared in that spot.

-Grrrrrr!

Giant gray-furred wolves, Dire Wolves.

Green goblins mounted on the wolves’ backs, Goblin Riders.

The monster appearance locations for Sudden Rifts are random, but the probability is higher for appearing in places without obstacles, so most monsters appeared around the training ground.

The training center was structured with the training ground in the middle, the women’s dormitory below, and the men’s dormitory above, so the monsters could go anywhere.

Whoooosh!

Then, a mountain wind blew.

Night mountain winds always blow from the top downwards.

The scent of the monsters that appeared in the middle of the training ground wafted strongly towards the women’s dormitory.

But conversely, perhaps because the scent from the men’s dormitory above the training ground reached the monsters, the wolves simultaneously turned their heads towards the men’s dormitory.

-Kheng!

Sniffing their noses, they caught the scent of humans and began rushing in a pack.

But Lee Hanseong’s expression watching that scene was calm.

Although combat power on the men’s dormitory side decreased as he left, there was no worry there.

‘Well, Yuseong and Seongcheol will protect the men’s dormitory side well.’

The two promising candidates who had already completed their Starlight Baptism were trustworthy.

The problem was this side.

No matter how much monster appearance locations are determined mainly in wide open spaces, exceptions existed.

Cracklecrackle!

A forked end of the rift, falling precisely towards Yu Sehee’s room, broke the window and cast its shadow inside the room.

Pat!

A Dire Wolf and Goblin Rider appeared as if summoned from the end of the fork.

“Hup!”

Lee Hanseong was already moving before they fully appeared.

‘Fighting in a narrow room puts Sehee in danger. Kill them immediately before they grasp the situation.’

Launching his body with <High-Speed Dash>, which consumes stamina to increase speed, he stepped on the head of the wolf that had just revealed itself and leaped.

Tap! Thud!

He stabbed the demon sword into the chest of the goblin mounted on the wolf’s back.

-Grok…!

Once wounded, it was the end.

Wobble wobble!

The black energy coiled around the demon sword pulsated like blood vessels and greedily sucked the life of the Goblin Rider through the wound.

Pssssss…!

The goblin’s corpse mummified in an instant, then turned to ashes and scattered.

In return, the demon sword became slightly sharper and stronger.

Simultaneously, pleasure flowing from the enhanced demon sword surged into his mind.

‘…Ha!’

He almost became intoxicated by the ecstasy akin to flying through the sky, but barely maintained his reason with <Immovable Heart>.

If he had surrendered to that pleasure, he would have degenerated into a murderer.

-Grrr!

The wolf, belatedly realizing its master’s death, revealed hostility.

But that too was brief.

The <Monster Affinity> Skill activated, easing the hostility.

“Wait.”

Stopping the bewildered-looking wolf with a firm Command, he acquired the spoils from the Goblin Rider.

A whip left where the corpse disappeared.

This whip, containing the Power of the Stars held by the Goblin Rider, was the Medium through which one could obtain the Rider’s Skill.

Oong.

The star of Henrietta residing within him resonated as if desiring the Rider’s Skill.

As expected.

The Feat that turned Henrietta, a village maiden, into a Spirit was being kidnapped by a monster and returning safely.

It wasn’t for nothing that the Skills she granted were <Monster Language> and <Monster Affinity>, related to monsters.

‘The monster that kidnapped Henrietta was a goblin.’

Lee Hanseong judged that the Goblin Rider’s Skill was the key to promoting Henrietta. That expectation hit the mark.

‘Acquire.’

Fwaaat!

The whip handle and the inner star resonated, and the Power of the Stars contained in the whip flowed towards Henrietta’s star.

At this moment, it was the instant the world’s first Spirit Promotion was achieved.

[Conditions met. 1-Star Spirit ‘Henrietta’ is promoted to 2-Star (★☆).]

[New General Skills <Mounting>, <???> are added.]

[Vocation Awakening Skill <Monster Taming> changes to a General Awakening Skill.]

However, the system messages didn’t end with just Henrietta’s promotion.

[You have promoted a Spirit for the first time!]

[Achieved Feat, ‘First Spirit Promotion’!]

[Acquired sufficient Achievement for Awakening. Awakening to 1-Star.]

[The sublime Twelve Constellations of the Heavenly Palace bless your Feat!]

[Vocation Awakening Skill 《Transcendence》 Blooms!]

Messages announcing Lee Hanseong’s own 1-Star Awakening, following the Spirit promotion.

And.

A Devotee’s Grade is directly linked to their Constellation’s Grade.

One of the cats sleeping within roared powerfully like a tiger.

-Nyaaa!

[The presence of the Nameless Constellation becomes slightly more distinct.]

[Stigma 《Historical Alteration》 Blooms.]

The Lord of the Throne, having recovered Grade, regained lost Authority.

And that was engraved as a new Stigma onto Lee Hanseong’s soul, which was synchronizing.

But something was strange.

Grrrrr!

The gaze of the Twelve Constellations that came to bless the Awakening did not disappear.

Rather, revealing the Grade they had concealed, their presence grew increasingly stronger.

[The Epicenter Throne expresses bewilderment at the overlapping first record.]

[The Wheel Constellation detects a distortion in causality and opens its eyes wide.]

Kwarurung! Boom boom!

Just their presence alone caused thunder to rumble incessantly from the sky.

As if the world couldn’t bear the Grade of the Twelve Constellations and was screaming.

Even the Sudden Rift that had covered the sky was completely insignificant at this moment.

Twelve Constellations emitting intense presence shone like gigantic eyes each, looking down upon this place.

[The sublime gaze of the Twelve Constellations contemplates your soul.]

A transcendent gaze where considerations for beings of lower Grade do not exist.

“……!”

A gaze that seemed to pierce through to the soul turned his mind blank white.

Instinctively thinking he must not be caught for the Regression, he focused all his spirit on <Immovable Heart> and emptied his mind.

But <Immovable Heart> was pierced in an instant, and the moment a feeling of being stripped bare down to his soul assaulted him.

-Nyaa.

A cat’s cry resounded from within, blocking the Constellations’ gaze.

The Lord of the Throne, having recovered some Grade, prevented the memories from before the Regression from being exposed.

‘…I survived.’

Ultimately, the gaze of the Twelve Constellations, finding nothing unusual, was withdrawn.

It clung stickily until the end, still seeming suspicious, but it felt like they had no choice but to retreat as further intervention would burden them with the world’s backlash.

[Achieved Feat, ‘One Favored by the Twelve Constellations’.]

Cracklecrackle!

Of course, even a momentary intervention’s aftermath was not small.

The instability of the Sudden Rift, exposed to the gaze containing the Constellations’ Grade, increased further, and the rift’s range expanded.

Meaning that monsters stronger than Goblin Riders could now appear.

Moreover, what was affected by the Constellation’s gaze wasn’t just that.

-Gurgle.

The Dire Wolf right beside Lee Hanseong had fainted, foaming at the mouth.

“Ghk.”

Yu Sehee, in the middle of receiving Starlight Baptism, was coughing up blood, nose bleeding.

‘Synchronization Rate Overload…!’

At this rate, Yu Sehee would die.

But Lee Hanseong had no intention of leaving her like that.

He had already sworn as much.