3. If There's No Constellation, Just Make One (2)

The Resonance Ritual.
A hidden phenomenon, triggered when you carry a Relic to a land where that Constellation’s origins are rooted.

Broken or not, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a Relic.

A thunderous voice came pouring out through the pocket watch.
It had been half a gamble, but it had paid off splendidly.

“I know. That’s why I called you.”

“Would you have come out right away if I hadn’t?”

Yujin knew the breed called Constellations all too well.
Immortal beings who lived on for all eternity, basking in the worship of mortals.
Even a Constellation brought as low as Kronos was a lump of pride that wouldn’t so much as share a table with a human.

“It takes a shock like this to make you come popping right out.”

“Yeah. It’s already broken.”

A strange light flickered across the pocket watch.

“You, of all beings, must understand exactly what it means for this watch to be broken.”

“As you can see.”

Yujin gave a light shrug.

“Honestly, I’m grateful to you. If it hadn’t been for this Relic, I’d have died for nothing.”

The marvel called regression.
Thanks to the contingency stored within Kronos’s Relic, Yujin had been given a second chance.

“So I’ll give you a chance too.”

“Become my patron Constellation.”

“I’m always serious.”

A brief silence.

How much time had passed?
With a tremor greater than the one that had shaken him in rage, Kronos burst into roaring laughter.

“What’s so funny?”

Well, I figured as much.
The whole lot of them, these Constellations, are stiff as a board, like their necks are set in casts.

Decrepit though Kronos had become, he was, in name at least, one who had once been a Divine King.
He was a Constellation on par with Zeus or Odin, so he’d reckoned well enough on being refused.

“Understood.”

“I’m plenty strong even without a Constellation. Or did you not figure that out from the fact that I got the watch working?”

“Something like that.”

Yujin slipped the broken pocket watch into his pocket.

“The conversation’s over. My offer to make you my patron got refused, so I’d better head back.”

“Why?”

The corner of Yujin’s lips curled upward.

“Did you leave it in my safekeeping or something?”

“Then come take it yourself. Why should I be the one to give it back?”

Without a trace of hesitation, Yujin turned away from the ruins of the palace of Knossos.

— Vmmmmmm—!

The watch’s trembling grew more violent.

“You’re not even my patron Constellation.”

“That’s no concern of mine.”

Well, now.
It’s a little rich, hearing that from a cold-blooded father who devoured his own children to escape a foretold downfall.

This is the only Relic left in this land.

And there he goes, blurting out his own weakness without my even asking.
That just makes him easier to deal with.

Push too hard and he might bounce off, so I suppose it’s about time to dangle a carrot.

Yujin turned back around and let his gaze fall on the palace of Knossos once more.

“Don’t you want revenge?”

“Don’t answer a question with a question.”

You know that quavering tone of yours doesn’t sound the least bit convincing, right?

Yujin needled Kronos a little further.

“I expected more from a Divine King, but that’s all you amount to.”

“I came here because I believed that you, at least, would not have let go of your thirst for vengeance.”

The cold-blooded father who, on hearing the prophecy that the Titan race would fall, had devoured even his own children.
There was no way the desire to reclaim what was taken, the lust for revenge, had vanished from Kronos’s heart.

“I’ll say it once more. Make me your patron Constellation, and I’ll help you take your revenge.”

You said you weren’t interested in revenge.
So dishonest with yourself.

“Because among my enemies, Zeus is included too.”

“I do.”

The ones who had directly harmed Yujin were House Romanov.
But.
For House Romanov, seated in Russia, to project its full might onto Korea, a nation of East Asia, had only been possible because the Seven Great Families had turned a blind eye.

I have to assume all Seven Great Families are enemies.

The hegemon of Eastern Europe, one of the Seven Great Families: House Karamanlis.
A great many of the house’s members held Constellations belonging to Olympus as their patrons.
And the man reigning as head of the house, ‘Aden Karamanlis,’ was a powerhouse recognized as the Incarnation of Zeus.

“Bring down House Karamanlis, and the influence of Olympus’s Constellations on Earth will fall right along with it.”

“If it galls you, then don’t bother.”

“It’s not as if you’re the only Fallen Constellation out there who’s lost their light.”

Kronos’s heart heaved hard at Yujin’s bluff, and with that shift in his mood, the watch in Yujin’s pocket trembled faintly.

A supposition, he says.
He’s halfway won over, and pride still won’t let him speak plainly.

Biting back the laugh that threatened to surface, Yujin calmly waited for Kronos’s next words.

“Right.”

Just as Dmitri had learned magic from Odin, each Constellation patronizes Hunters whose origins or natures align well with their own.
Being merely strong isn’t enough to make one a patron.

That’s the very reason I was cast aside, too.

Even Constellations who governed death, like Hades or Osiris, hadn’t matched Yujin’s grain.
Which was why.

“That’s why I came to you. The god who once presided over harvest and time.”

The Grim Reaper.
The avatar of death, draped in pitch-black robes, harvesting lives with a long scythe.
The being that most people in Europe call to mind when they hear the word ‘reaper.’

“The image of the reaper, in the end, comes out of the harvest.”

“Time and harvest. Weave the two elements together, and it leads to the concept of defying death — that’s the idea.”

What comes to everyone equally is time and death.
Domains that Kronos once symbolized.

“Good, you catch on fast.”

A domain of defiance against the natural order that no one presided over.
Clash the two concepts Kronos once governed and invert them, and he might even reclaim his lost starlight.

“Isn’t the theory flawless?”

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to.”

A chance to send a star that had fallen from the heavens ascending once more had appeared right before his eyes.
There was no way he could pass it up.
Even if the domain he would govern was the ‘natural-order-defying’ concept that drew the contempt of every Constellation.

An offer you can’t refuse, isn’t it?

Yujin waited in silence, patient, as Kronos sank into thought.
Around the time the sun hanging in the sky slipped past the horizon.

Kronos accepted Yujin’s offer.

Even with Kronos becoming Yujin’s patron, nothing changed.
The heart of a blessing was Divine Power.
From Kronos, stripped of all power, authority, and Divine Power, there was nothing to be gained.

“It’s just the truth that my Constellation is useless.”

“Enough. From here on, take in the energy I channel.”

Yujin sent spirit-power flowing into the Broken Pocket Watch of Kronos.

“Don’t just marvel at it. Do your job.”

His total spirit-power was 10.
Leveling up might be another matter, but at this rate of consumption, Yujin’s spirit-energy would be utterly drained within a minute.

Following the inspiration Yujin had given him, Kronos clashed Time and Harvest together, and in the same motion absorbed the spirit-energy, staking it as the foundation of a new rank of existence.

— Kurrrng—!

A change arose within the light-stripped Constellation.
The concept of retrograde, a nature no one had ever governed, settled into Kronos.
And the Constellation that had fallen to ruin found its light anew.

“Big words, for someone who couldn’t even hand over a single blessing.”

Yujin wasn’t greatly disappointed.
Everything up to here was according to plan.

Even if he’s come back as a Constellation, he hasn’t got a single soul worshipping him.

The Constellation.
Great beings who, through legendary or mythic feats, won the worship of multitudes and inscribed their existence upon the stars.
Each Constellation governs various natures according to their feats.
From nature itself, like the sun or the sea, to physical attributes like strength or agility, all the way to abstract emotions like love or wrath.

Kronos hasn’t built up a single tale tied to the concept of defying the natural order.

No human worship.
Not one karmic deed, myth, or story connected to the concept.
He’d merely scraped past the conditions by plugging in the ‘reaper’ tale handed down through the medieval ages.

The only choice is for me — his sole patron — to build that karma and lore in his stead.
As I reclaim the heights I held before the regression, the karma tied to the concept will fill up soon enough.

The stronger Kronos grew as a Constellation, the stronger the blessing conferred upon Yujin would become.

“What’s with ‘contractor’?”

Kronos gave a long, deliberate clearing of his throat.

“Can you grant a blessing?”

A strong light leaked out from his pocket.
It wasn’t hard to realize that the source of the bright light was the Broken Pocket Watch of Kronos.

A Saint, he said?

The instant Kronos’s declaration drove itself into his mind, a surge of intense power he had never felt in his past life came coursing down through the crown of his head.

“Ngh, nngh.”

Yujin felt the brimming power spreading into every corner of his body, and lost consciousness.

When he closed his eyes and opened them again, countless points of starlight reflected off Yujin’s retinas.

“Who told you to do something like that without any warning?”

A Saint?
There was no way I didn’t know that title.
The highest-grade job in the Priest class group.
And for whatever whim had seized him, my foolish, prideful Constellation had wrung out his rat-dropping pittance of power to appoint me a Priest.

“A Necromancer as a Priest. That makes no sense at all.”

Grinding his teeth, Yujin nonetheless pulled up his status window and checked the additions.

“Huh?”

White Night.
It was an aberrant trait that even Yujin, who before the regression had stood at the very summit of all Hunters, had never heard of.
The ability to convert holy power and mana.

Wait.

Doesn’t this mean I can use both Necromancer and Priest-line skills?
Insane!

If he hadn’t reflexively clapped his right hand over his mouth, he’d nearly have let out a shout.

Holy spells, usable only by those who possess holy power.
Necromancer spells, by contrast, grounded in spirit-power.

This is an absurd trait.

When unfolding holy spells, use holy power.
When wielding the Necromancer’s abilities, swap the stat via White Night’s power.

To think a unique trait would be added that lets me bring out more than 100% of my abilities.

“So you didn’t appoint me a Saint with no plan at all.”

You gave me something this impressive, so I’ll let it slide for now.

The class called Saint of the White Night was the same.
An effect that brought the penalty all the way down to zero.
Of course, no penalty was one thing, but for an ordinary Priest class group, even learning Necromancer-related skills, which fall under the Magic line, would be a tall order.

There’s a way around all that.

At the unexpected stroke of fortune, the corner of his lips kept creeping upward.

All right. Then let’s check the holy spell.

When he next read the description of Life Drain, a question rose.

“Is this really a holy spell?”

A holy spell that strips another’s life force. This was, plainly, no different from a curse.
Going by the skill description alone, it called to mind dark magic like Vampiric Touch.
The difference, if any, was that the life force could be stored up and then used like a heal.
And the fact that it could raise stats.

This one I’ll only know once I actually use it.

Just gaining the unique trait called White Night meant he was starting out in far better conditions than before the regression.
Yujin didn’t pay the unidentified holy spell much mind.

Well, the holy spell’s just a bonus.

Thanks to the unprecedented trait called White Night, he could now handle Priest-line abilities too.
But.
His essence was that of a Necromancer.

The bonus is nice, but I can’t forget what I am at heart.

His preparations were complete.
Now it was time to grow stronger.
The standard way for a Hunter to grow stronger is to hunt monsters.

Around this time… that place would be the best bet.

His next destination was Myeongdong.
A gate harboring a secret that wouldn’t come to light until far in the future: the Garden of Antiquity.