Chapter 321

"I don't necessarily believe in physiognomy, but…"

Yoon Sejin, the so-called "traitor's face."

That evaluation seemed a bit unfair to him.

It was true that he had followed Shizuru, who had the ability to "edit," and that he had been ruled by the Constellation "King of the Humans." But in a way, it was more like an accident.

In the first place, hadn't Seong Jihan suggested that Yoon Sejin seek sponsorship from the King of the Humans, hoping that it would be good to have a sponsor constellation?

'Still, even if it wasn't intentional, there have been accidents several times.'

Yoon Sejin might just be unlucky, but the evaluation of the Shadow Queen, a constellation, was something he couldn't just ignore.

'It's definitely better if I'm the constellation and take the lead.'

Seong Jihan was thinking this when…

"Uncle!"

Yoon Seah, who had gone out to show the human players to the Shadow Queen, came back in.

"The queen wants to sponsor Dad?"

"Wasn't he called a traitor just now?"

"I'm not in a position to care about such things."

As she said this, the Shadow Queen looked at Seong Jihan intently.

"But you. Did you do something just now?"

"Why?"

"My abilities suddenly surged, and several of the chains that were left on my body broke."

Seong Jihan had an idea of what she was talking about.

The 200% boost to all stats when the constellation trait was turned on.

It looks like the Shadow Queen benefited from that too.

"Oh, I was just powered up for a bit."

"Can't you do a little more? If I can break these chains, I think I can be active as a constellation again…"

"Active as a constellation? Wasn't that over?"

The Shadow Queen, whose Shadow Elves on the main planet were annihilated.

For her, who had the trait of Dominion, it was no different from receiving irreversible damage.

She nodded at Seong Jihan's words, but…

"That's true, but… our Shadow Elves are the only ones that World Tree Elves can continue to create. If the Elf type isn't complete, they'll still be scrapped. We need to unite those souls and make the Shadow Elves a force again. And I'll get revenge on World Tree for making me like this."

She was burning with a will for revenge.

"What about the main planet?"

"I have a planet in reserve in case something happens. Of course, before settling there, I need to put a decent number of Shadow Elves under my command. If I surprise attack one of the World Tree's planets and liberate the Shadow Elves, I should have enough to settle on that planet."

"Can you do that alone?"

"I may be in this state now, but I'm still a level 7 constellation in my own right. If I can just recover my strength, I may not be able to conquer a World Tree Elf planet, but I can surprise it and unite the souls."

Level 7, huh.

So she maxed out the Dominion trait to level 7.

Considering that level 10 is a Great Constellation, level 7 is still a high rank among constellations.

The Shadow Queen was stronger than he had thought.

"But there is one obstacle that I must overcome for my revival."

The Shadow Queen fiddled with the broken chains on her body.

"This Yggdrasil root that is still embedded in my body… If I don't remove it, my location can be tracked at any time."

"Shall I remove it for you?"

"No, I will overcome this on my own. If I rely on you too much, I won't know how to deal with it if I get entangled in the roots again later."

The Yggdrasil root that Seong Jihan's power could deal with.

However, the Shadow Queen did not want to receive his help with this as well.

"If it doesn't work, let me know."

"Got it. Speaking of which, about the sponsorship thing just now…"

"Oh, for my brother-in-law? I'll do that."

The Shadow Queen' eyes widened at Seong Jihan's words.

"Aren't you not a constellation either? And you're only level 300 or so."

"But I can sponsor five people."

"No, but how can you sponsor a constellation if you're not a constellation?"

"I can."

"…You're a really unique player."

The Shadow Queen shook her head a few times as if she couldn't understand, and eventually gave up on the Sword King.

"Alright. I won't sponsor the traitor… I mean, Sword King. I'll look for another player."

"Good thinking."

"Uh… Uncle is really going to sponsor someone? Even though he's not a constellation?"

"That's right."

"Wow…"

Yoon Seah blinked her eyes and picked up her phone.

"Then I'll call Dad again. I told him to ask for the Queen's sponsorship earlier."

"Alright then."

"Yeah, Dad. It's Seah…"

* * *

"You want to make my brother-in-law as a constellation? Alright."

Yoon Sejin, who had returned home, accepted Seong Jihan's sponsorship offer without much hesitation.

"Dad is answering right away. He doesn't even hesitate between the Shadow Queen and Uncle."

"How could I hesitate when I've been causing trouble for my brother-in-law all this time? I'm just grateful that he's willing to sponsor me."

From the brother-in-law's point of view, accepting his brother-in-law as a constellation could be seen as a burden.

Perhaps it was because he had caused a lot of trouble as Gilgamesh's servant along with Shizuru.

Yoon Sejin accepted the sponsorship offer as if it were natural.

"So do I have to show respect to the constellation from now on?"

"No, it's not necessary between family. It would be awkward."

"That's true."

Seong Jihan opened the Constellation window and opened the 'Player Sponsorship' section.

Perhaps because the Dominion trait was turned off, only five slots were active.

And at the top of the Player Sponsorship section was a section called [Investment Tendency].

"Investment Tendency? Queen, do you know what this is?"

"You really… you can sponsor as a constellation? This section determines how much a constellation will invest in a player. It is divided into five stages, from very active to very passive. At first, the investment tendency will be the same for all sponsored players."

"Will it change later?"

"If you have a Dominion level of 3 or higher, you can adjust the investment tendency for each player individually."

So until then, he had to sponsor all players with the same tendency.

The Shadow Queen, as a senior constellation, gave Seong Jihan some tips.

"Basically, the resources required for player sponsorship are GP and Constellation Fame points. Of these, Fame points, which are important for constellations, are not consumed much from the 'Active' investment stage onwards. It is better not to exceed the 'Normal' investment tendency unless you have a good reason. After all, the reason for sponsoring players is to secure Fame points."

"So you spend Fame points to gain Fame?"

"Yes. Well-raised sponsored players will continuously increase your Fame points. That's why many constellations are looking for promising players."

As she said this, the Shadow Queen also commented on humanity.

"It seems that humanity is not getting much attention from constellations. The evaluation in the Battle net race report, which was not very good, played a part in that."

"Battle.net report."

Seong Jihan seemed to know what that was.

It was the report by the Battle.net manager that evaluated the possibility of remaining in the league at 3% and the investment value as zero.

This information, which Seong Jihan had made public, had been quite a topic of conversation in the past.

"But from my point of view, the report has actually increased the investment value of humanity. Because of the report, no decent constellations are paying attention to it."

"I guess the report has a big impact."

"Of course. Battle.net reports boast 99.9% accuracy. Your planet is lucky to have an Irregular like you, so it's in the 0.1%."

"Well, that report is accurate. Without Uncle, humanity would have lost to even the 20th place."

"Even if the race of humanity can just stay in Battle.net, the constellations that have invested here will see a lot of profit."

"Are you going to invest too?"

"Yes. I'm going to invest all my resources here."

The Shadow Queen' eyes lit up as she said this.

In order to revive herself, she was planning to focus on humanity, which had Seong Jihan.

"So, you, the lord of this star, should choose your sponsor first. I'll choose from the rest."

"Alright. I won't be modest and choose first. Before that."

Seong Jihan tapped on an empty sponsorship slot and put Yoon Sejin in it.

[You are sponsoring a player for the first time.]

[Your Constellation Fame points have increased by 100.]

The system gave 100 points in Fame because it was the first sponsored player.

"Oh… My brother-in-law's name doesn't appear, and he comes up as an unknown constellation."

"Most constellation names are not given when the trait level is 1. Is Dominion level 1?"

"Uh."

Seong Jihan nodded and changed the investment tendency to 'Very Active'.

[The investment tendency has been changed to Very Active.]

[The effect of constellation sponsorship has increased significantly, and more GP and constellation Fame points are consumed.]

A system message popped up saying that the sponsorship effect and resource consumption had increased simultaneously.

However, the exact amount of consumption was not specified.

Seong Jihan asked Yoon Sejin.

"Brother-in-law, how is the effect? I changed the investment tendency to Very Active."

"Um… I don't know. I'm not getting any messages."

"Really? Even if the Dominion level is 1, something should appear if the investment tendency is Very Active. That's strange."

The Shadow Queen said this to Yoon Sejin's words that nothing appeared, but…

'Is the sponsorship effect also 1% because the trait is OFF?'

Seong Jihan could roughly understand why the effect was not showing up.

If the return value for sponsored players is also 1%, there would be no need to force players into slots.

"It seems that the sponsorship effect is weak because I am not a full constellation yet. Brother-in-law, if you want to fully enjoy the sponsorship effect, you can go to the Queen."

"No, it's okay. Sponsorship effect… I lost my desire after being beaten badly by the King of the Humans. Just change the investment tendency to Very Passive."

Even to Seong Jihan's suggestion, Yoon Sejin said he would not change his sponsor constellation.

It seemed that he would rather just belong to Seong Jihan's side than get more sponsorship effects.

"Alright. Then, Queen. You choose the players you want to sponsor first. I need to think about whether or not I should sponsor more."

"Oh? Are you giving me priority? That's good for me."

"Then shall we go to the living room? I put the player data on the TV earlier."

"Alright."

Seong Jihan's group moved back to the living room.

"This is really a problem… There are so many players with such high-grade gifts. No matter how much race correction is applied, this is too much."

"Is that so?"

The Shadow Queen, who was looking at the analysis data of the top players, was impressed by the grades of the gifts they had received.

"Yes. Among them, the one I want the most is you, Yoon Seah."

"Me?"

"Is your mother treating you well? Sometimes family can be stingy. If I become your sponsor constellation, I will invest in you very actively."

"Oh, it's okay. Having my mother as a constellation is not for sponsorship purposes."

"Really? That's a shame…"

Appreciating Yoon Seah's potential, the Shadow Queen looked at the data with regret.

As she was about to pick players.

Zzzzzz....

"Hmm…"

Seong Jihan, who was looking at the data with her, twitched his eyebrows.

And soon after.

"…I can feel a strong force. From above."

The Shadow Queen also took her eyes off the screen and looked out the window with her eyes sunken in.

"Huh? Why are you suddenly like this?"

"…Wait a minute. I'm going to go up to the sky to scout. Queen, come back in."

"Alright."

Swooooooosh!

The queen, who obediently turned into shadow energy, entered his left arm at Seong Jihan's words.

As soon as he retrieved the queen, he went out the window and looked up at the sky.

The upper part of the high penthouse revealed a clear blue sky without a single cloud.

But only for a moment.

Fwhoooooosh…!

A red aura bloomed in the air, forming a giant cross of blood.

And

"Seong Jihan."

Below the cross.

A being clad in blood armor was looking at Seong Jihan.

"I am Longinus, and I am here to kill you here by the order of the Martial God."