Chapter 99 – Aftermath

<(Breaking News) Lee Hanseong passes Heavenly Demon Medallion Trial in shortest time ever.>

<The Great Feat of Hundred-Man Slaughter rewritten in Korea!>

<Fugitive Choi Sangguk meets his end at the hands of Lee Hanseong.>

<How did Lee Hanseong defeat a Highest-Rank Awakener?>

<Heaven-Slaying Guild spokesperson Jang Wei states: “Lee Hanseong is the new master of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword.”>

<Shock as Lee Hanseong is already known to have reached 4-Star!>

<All members of Galaxy Guild Awaken once again. Does Galaxy Guild hold the secret to Awakening?>

When morning came, Jin Yuseong brought the articles flooding the internet.

The reactions were similar to when the sparring video with the Association Head was posted, but even greater.

—Lee Hanseong, he’s a god! This is either a real god or it makes no sense.

—The Heavenly Demon’s return, all demons submit!

—How does a 4-Star rookie defeat a 9-Star? Even plot armor has its limits.

—If this is plot armor, then all the Highest-Rank Awakeners are lying?

—But it turned out to be true.

—Info. It’s only been about 7 weeks since Lee Hanseong made his Spirit Contract.

—At this rate, he might really become an Apostle within a year.

—Wow. Cutting down a Highest-Rank Awakener in just 7 weeks. Kya, this is the future Apostle.

—How do I join Galaxy Guild? I saw they recruited one newbie too.

Among them, interest in Galaxy Guild was also not insignificant.

“It seems like we could start recruiting new guild members soon. What do you think?”

—Meow.

At Jin Yuseong’s words, Mirinae appeared in her cat-form Projection and meowed.

It meant to proceed as such.

Originally, the plan was to attract guild members by showing a good performance at the Heavenly Palace Tournament.

Thanks to the suddenly arrived Heavenly Demon Medallion Trial, it seemed the timing for guild member recruitment would be sped up.

“I think we can start right away.”

“Okay.”

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

The guild’s growth naturally leads to Mirinae’s recovery.

Besides guild members getting Promotions, increasing the number of other guild members is also a method of growth.

However, indiscriminate recruitment might be good for immediately expanding influence, but problems are bound to arise over time.

Some criteria were needed.

“What scale would be good?”

“Hmm. We’re not at a level to compare with the Twelve Guilds yet, so let’s increase gradually for now. Let’s aim to fill ten members, including us, within the two weeks remaining until the Heavenly Palace Tournament Main Tournament.”

“Then, we’re recruiting five people.”

“That’s right.”

The selection criteria were largely set as two.

“First, even if we don’t reveal our Lord of the Throne immediately, for future selection, they should be those who haven’t chosen a Constellation yet.”

As Jin Yuseong said, to serve Mirinae, one must first be in a state of not having chosen another Constellation.

Because of this condition, most High-Rank Awakeners had no choice but to be excluded from recruitment.

Even promising Mid-Rank Awakeners all fail due to this condition.

But this wasn’t all bad.

Since the initial members, who can be considered Galaxy Guild’s executives, are all young promising candidates, if a senior Awakener who is too advanced joined, the hierarchy could be disrupted.

Rather, recruiting those clearly lower than the initial members was better for establishing hierarchy.

“Second, we need to look at character.”

As long as Lee Hanseong, who can promote Spirits and mediate Contracts, is present, even a low-rank Awakener with no talent could be considered guaranteed growth.

What’s important is character.

If a potential criminal is accepted and the guild’s reputation falls, Mirinae’s influence would also decline.

Like the Heaven-Slaying Guild, one could build influence based on infamy, but Unchain has probably already accumulated a lot of that.

For Galaxy Guild, building only reputation was the balanced approach.

“Then we’ll focus on those two criteria for selection.”

“Please take care of it.”

“Ah, and when you have time, take a look at this too.”

Jin Yuseong handed over a different scrap from the articles he showed earlier and left.

<Thorough Analysis of Hundred-Man Slaughter Progress Confirmed via Psychometry (14)>

<Changes in Korean Domestic Awakener Rankings>

<Let’s talk about Lee Hanseong’s abilities and equipment.>

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Posts containing more in-depth information compared to the articles posted in the open web.

It was a scrap collecting major posts uploaded on the Dark Web.

‘True to our people who rank everything, Choi Sangguk’s death has already been updated.’

Lee Hanseong first checked the domestic Awakener rankings that caught his eye.

The world of Highest-Rank Awakeners, which only selects up to the 10th place.

1st. Seven Star Guild Master Baek Junyeong. 9-Star.

2nd. Awakener Association Head Lee Hyeonseong. 9-Star.

3rd. Heavenly Demon Kingdom Ambassador to Korea Jang Wei. 9-Star.

4th. Sun Church Diocese Head of the Republic of Korea Bishop James Lee. 9-Star.

5th. Sakyol Guild Master Jin Taeseong (▲). 9-Star.

6th. Shining Guild Korea Branch Head Yoo Mirae (▲). 9-Star.

7th. Gale Guild Master Kang Taepung (▲). 7-Star.

8th. Black Guild Master Kim Yuhyeon (▲). 9-Star.

9th. Iron Guild Korea Branch Head Choi Gangcheol (▲). 9-Star.

10th. Galaxy Guild Master Lee Hanseong (new!). 4+n-Star.

The spot that was previously 5th, held by Choi Sangguk, had disappeared, and Lee Hanseong had newly entered the 10th spot.

He couldn’t believe his eyes.

He was the first since Kang Taepung to enter the top 10 without being a Highest-Rank Awakener.

Considering even Kang Taepung only entered the rankings after becoming a High-Rank Awakener and contracting with the 11-Star Loki, this was an unusual event.

“The self-proclaimed experts on the Dark Web put me in the rankings? What on earth happened?”

Lee Hanseong was flustered by the unexpected ranking ascent, but after reading other analysis posts, he understood why he could rise in the rankings.

“Ha, everything revealed in the Hundred-Man Slaughter has been analyzed.”

Especially the Legendary Equipment, the list, Spirit Hero Treasures, and even the forms of the Divine Artifacts created by fusing the two were all identified.

Perhaps the intelligence analyst from the Seven Star Guild stepped in.

—(Summary)…The point that Lee Hanseong’s Spirit achieved rapid Promotion during the Hundred-Man Slaughter. It is presumed that Lee Hanseong possesses a power similar to the <Fragment of ■■> that recently began appearing in the Underground.

—The 2-stage Promotion for allies and 2-stage downgrade for enemies is really OP.

—Even more OP is that rainbow-colored Gang Qi. That’s fusing Skills and Treasure Vessels. If it weren’t for that, Lee Hanseong would have just died fighting a Mid-Rank Awakener.

Even putting aside Transcendence and Divine Fall, the abilities of Historical Alteration and Primordial Chaos Gang Qi were also exposed.

—If you look at it that way, having multiple lives is also OP. Calculating the number of times he died in the early part of the Hundred-Man Slaughter and the times he died later and refilled his Life Stacks, it seems he has about ten lives.

The number of lives was also known.

—I’m curious where Lee Hanseong’s Legendary Equipment came from. At first, I thought the Association Head smuggled it from the Association’s treasury, but there’s no record of such equipment in the treasury at all.

—What, so all of that is newly obtained Legendary Equipment? Did he find a treasure trove somewhere?

—But from the middle of the Hundred-Man Slaughter, that Twilight Orb or whatever he used against High-Rank Awakeners, that’s an Authority, right?

—Yep. That’s why Lee Hanseong rose in the rankings like Kang Taepung. If it weren’t for that, even if he defeated Choi Sangguk, he wouldn’t have made it into the rankings.

On top of that, even his Authority was exposed.

—He even received the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword from the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord, so he must have gotten stronger. Ha, Lee Hanseong is just OP.

—What’s even more amazing is that it’s only been about 7 weeks since his Spirit Contract.

—A bit early to be amazed by speed. Honestly, the current Apostles had faster growth speeds.

—I’m a Dark Web newbie, but just how fast did the Sun Star King and Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord grow for you to say that?

—The Sun Star King reached 6-Star in about 6 weeks, and the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord reached 6-Star in a month.

—That Hundred-Man Slaughter back then was truly insane. All those Highest-Rank Awakeners who boasted about being the hundred great masters of the Central Plains died at the hands of the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord back then.

Then, a comment comparing Lee Hanseong with the other two Apostles caught his eye.

He frowned.

From the beginning, their growth speeds were bound to be different from Lee Hanseong’s, as they contracted with 12-Star Great Vessels from the start.

The massive Feat requirement needed for the Awakening of a 12-Star Great Vessel is like eating rice cake for them with a 12-Star Spirit.

“If only Mirinae recovers her original Grade, I can also grow faster than now…!”

In his indignation, he spoke without realizing it, then surprised himself and shut his mouth.

Mirinae’s name, which was prohibited from being uttered, came out without any hindrance.

“Mirinae?”

Even when he called the name again, there was no restriction.

Feeling like he received an unexpected gift, his heart swelled.

—Did you call?

“You heard? I called Mirinae! Since when was the utterance restriction lifted?”

—Indeed. It seems our Causality has accumulated enough to surpass the Causality restricting the utterance. It must be thanks to the Steward’s influence spreading worldwide.

Rustle.

The Projection, which had taken a cat form to conserve energy, transformed into a human form and gently hugged Lee Hanseong from behind.

A soft warmth enveloped him.

—We’ve come this far thanks to the Steward’s efforts.

“Then, you’ll be able to reclaim your Constellation Name soon too!”

—Once I Bloom the fifth Stigma again and reclaim the Authority of Primordial Chaos, that will be so.

While happy that Mirinae’s recovery was near, he also felt a bit regretful.

Once Mirinae recovers her full Constellation Grade, she won’t be able to easily intervene in reality like now.

Maintaining the Constellation Descent state will also become difficult.

Right now, the legend of receiving the Divine Spirit’s Blessing from the Guarantee of the Righteous Will assists the Descent.

Also, thanks to all Skills of the body becoming Rare Skill or higher, the Descent is maintained stably.

But if Mirinae’s Grade rises further from here, that too will gradually become a burden.

‘Of course, if I promote the Spirits and raise all Skill Circuits to Unique Skill or higher, the story would change.’

He had no intention of slowing his growth, even to stay with Mirinae longer.

His growth would lead to Mirinae’s growth again, but since Mirinae’s growth is no longer achieved solely through his growth.

It might not be impossible to grow stronger at a pace matching the Constellation’s recovery.

“If we’re to be together in the future, there’s no time to stay still like this.”

Lee Hanseong sprang up from his seat and went down to the training room in the Guild House basement.

Even if it wasn’t rapid growth like during the Life-and-Death Duel, using the Stigma of All Streams Return to Origin was enough to push the Skills he had learned to their limits.

* * *

“Then, I ask for a match. Mirinae.”

—Come.

He took off the Demon Armor, handed it to Mirinae’s Projection, and began sparring with her.

Both with the Stigma of All Streams Return to Origin activated.

[Due to the Stigma 《All Streams Return to Origin》, all techniques temporarily reach their limits!]

Pabababababak!

He familiarized himself with the sensation of handling various weapons, using not only the newly obtained Heavenly Demon Medallion and Heavenly Demon Divine Sword but also the existing Legendary Equipment in turn.

And Mirinae faced such Lee Hanseong using only martial arts utilizing the Demon Armor.

Clearly, Lee Hanseong, who had weapons, should have the advantage, but Mirinae remained relaxed throughout.

Tap. Swish— Thud. Clang!

The profound subtleties contained in simple motions of cutting, twisting, wrapping, pulling, pushing, and deflecting created her composure.

Thanks to All Streams Return to Origin showing the answer, the weapon arts he displayed were also at their peak, but compared to what Mirinae showed, something was lacking.

Something existed beyond the limits of technique, something only visible upon reaching the limits of technique.

“What on earth is that…?”

—It is not a concept that can be explained in words. This is something the Steward must realize directly.

When he asked after stopping the sparring as the activation time of All Streams Return to Origin ended, Mirinae only said that.

She didn’t give him the answer directly.

Days repeated of resting, then activating All Streams Return to Origin again to spar.

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Around the time a week had passed like that.

‘Ah…! This was it!’

Lee Hanseong could finally realize what he was lacking.

Will (intention).

In other words, the will that twists reality, <Spirit Particle Manipulation>.

Only by being able to imbue a new meaning beyond the inherent intent contained in the weapon with one’s own will could one surpass the limits of technique.

Ting!

The moment his body, will, and weapon harmonized as one, piercing Mirinae’s defense for the first time and landing a valid hit.

[Conditions met. Unique Skill <???> Blooms into <Weapon Master>.]

[Conditions met. <Perception Domination> and <Weapon Master> integrate.]

[Legendary Skill <Grasp> is formed.]

As <Weapon Master> Bloomed, the existing <Perception Domination> integrated and advanced to a higher stage.

Since Perception Domination was originally realized by watching the Sword Demon’s weapon arts, it wasn’t strange.

Whooosh!

Along with the feeling of his consciousness expanding to the entire range reachable by his weapon, a sense of omnipotence, as if holding a certain area of space in his grasp, surged.

The flow of air, the distribution of energy, the direction of force—everything naturally entered his mind.

Inside this domain, it felt like he could do everything as he wished!

—It seems you have realized.

“It’s thanks to you continuously showing me, Mirinae.”

While enjoying Mirinae’s proud gaze, at that moment.

Jin Yuseong came looking for Lee Hanseong.

“The first round of recruitment over the past week is finished. Even after filtering out all those who have chosen a Constellation, thousands remained.”

“To finish before the Heavenly Palace Tournament Main Tournament starts, we need to start interviews quickly.”

“So we’re starting right from today.”

“Should I go now too?”

“There’s still some leeway. If you wash up and get ready from now, it should be just right.”

“Okay.”

It was time to select Galaxy Guild’s new recruits.