Chapter 378

The message sender was Pythia, the fourth disciple of the Martial God.

Looking at her message, Seong Jihan asked,

"What's this? Were you listening to our conversation?"

[I had something to tell you, so I was watching through Sophia for a moment.]

Something to tell him?

Seong Jihan looked at the message with a puzzled expression and asked about the earlier topic.

"So, do you know who the Owner Of Tuseong is? Who is he?"

[It must be Gilgamesh. Recently, his tower has been expanded, and he's up to his usual antics again.]

"You mean the Tower of Babel has been expanded?"

[Yes. Since humanity evolved, remember?]

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

[He is the original king representing humanity, after all.]

Seong Jihan furrowed his brow.

"When Gilgamesh eagerly stepped in to help, I wondered why he was so proactive. So, it turns out he had a hidden agenda."

'I did manage to cancel his command directive with the domination code, but he still found a way to gain without a one-sided loss.'

And changing the constellation's name to approach those with pointy ears.

How sneaky.

"So, Seah, how many players are receiving sponsorship from the owner of tuseong?"

"Hmm... quite a few? At least several hundred. I've heard that as long as you have pointy ears, you get a sponsorship offer regardless of talent."

"Several hundred... scattered around the world, huh?"

"Yep. People are posting certification shots of their ears from all over the world, regardless of race."

This would make it difficult to cancel Gilgamesh's sponsorships using the domination code.

"Why on earth is that guy so desperate to give out sponsorships?"

[He probably wants to maintain a connection with humanity. Moreover, it seems he's searching for something on Earth.]

"Searching for something?"

[I'll investigate and let you know. It's difficult to approach him recklessly since Dongbang Sak is also headed there.]

"Dongbang Sak?"

[Yes, he's monitoring Gilgamesh.]

"For someone being monitored, he's quite active."

[Indeed. I wonder what's happened. Gilgamesh wouldn't dare misbehave under his watch.]

At her words, Seong Jihan was struck with a realization.

During his encounter with Dongbang Sak's ethereal form at the bottom of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Formation,

Could it be that while Dongbang Sak was preoccupied with Earth, Gilgamesh began stretching his claws toward it?

"For now, let's inform the association that the owner of tuseong is Gilgamesh and announce that his sponsorship should be refused."

"Okay. what if Gilgamesh changes his name again?"

[He won't be able to change his constellation name repeatedly. His recent rebranding to 'Owner of Tuseong' was likely due to humanity's evolution.]

So, the expansion of the tower gave an opportunity to change the constellation name?

Seong Jihan relayed this information to Lee Hayeon.

"Ah, then the name won't change until he ascends to the intermediate tier. I'll inform them right away!"

"Please do."

With a respectful nod towards Seong Jihan, Lee Hayeon went off to contact the association.

"Uncle, I'll post a notice in the community too."

"A notice? How are you going to do that? You didn't even create the community, did you?"

"I'm one of the sub-administrators of the community."

"...Since when?"

"When I signed up for the site, they offered me the position. It sparked my interest."

Tap, tap.

With skillful finger movements, Yoon Seah quickly tapped on her phone screen.

Shortly after, she drafted an announcement in English.

"The owner of Tuseong is suspected to be Gilgamesh... Do not accept his sponsorship... how's that?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

The announcement was promptly posted on the Half-Elf community.

-The owner of tuseong is Gilgamesh?

-No way, wasn't he the 'King Of Humans'? Can he change constellation names that easily?

-This is unbelievable! After all the benefits we received from the owner of tuseong... for him to be Gilgamesh!

-Doesn't matter! Ever since I got the constellation's support, I managed to reach Platinum League!

-Who's this sub-administrator playing pranks?

-That's Administrator Yoon Seah...

As soon as the post went up, it received a flood of comments.

Most were either denying that Gilgamesh could be the owner of tuseong or stating that it didn't matter even if he was.

"Seems like most people don't want to believe it."

"Of course. Even though opportunities for constellation sponsorship have increased, most players still haven't dared to dream of it."

"Right... Oh? The post got deleted. Crap, I've been stripped of my administrator rights!"

Seeing her announcement deleted and her admin rights revoked, Yoon Seah frowned deeply.

"The admins here must already be Gilgamesh's people."

"Then... it appears we'll need to deal with this through the official alliance channels."

That guy was truly persistent.

Seong Jihan resolved to handle the matter systematically in cooperation with the alliance and then asked Pythia,

"So, what was the purpose of the message you mentioned earlier?"

[Ah, it's related to the Star League promotion match...]

"Why, are you going to notify me of the promotion match games?"

[Well, you've eliminated constellations already, so you'll surely breeze through it.]

Pythia began addressing the main issue.

[But once you achieve first place, among the rewards...]

* * *

=Hello, everyone!

=September 25th, the day of the promotion matches has arrived!

September 25th.

As promotion matches began worldwide,

Channel 0, which broadcasted TOP 100 promotion matches, was bustling with excited commentators.

=Today's scheduled matches will start from the silver promotion matches up to the master promotion matches. And...

=The Star League! The much-anticipated promotion match to the Star League is scheduled last!

=The player granted the chance to move up to the Star League is none other than Seong Jihan!

=It feels like it wasn't long since he joined the Grand Master League, but his rate of growth is astonishing!

While other players lingered in Diamond League for months, with only a few finally obtaining a chance to promote to Master League,

Seong Jihan had already surpassed Grand Master League and was about to enter the Star League alone.

-Wow, the Star League... he's already going there?

-I thought leveling up became really slow in the Grand Master League;

-Well, if he keeps taking first place even with his stats sealed, he needs to be moved up quickly.

-For real, it was pitiful for his opponents.

-We've pushed Seong Jihan up each time... Now he's almost at the top, right? There's nothing beyond Star League anyway.

-Then he should become a constellation lolol

With Seong Jihan on the verge of promotion to the Star League, humanity was in a celebratory mood.

Seeing a cornerstone of humanity's strength in BattleNet continually grow rapidly, people were encouraged.

Even as the TOP 100 promotion matches proceeded, the audience's focus remained fixed on the final match.

-Oh, when will this end?

-Let's just have a quick fight and move on to the Star League promotion match.

-Why was the Star League promotion match scheduled last;

-I might as well take a nap lol

Despite some interests being piqued by the Master League promotion match,

=Now, the Master League promotion match begins!

=Here we see a confrontation with extraterrestrial races!

=From humanity, 14 players are participating. Let's hope many make it through!

In this survival map, involving 200 players including extraterrestrial races, humanity's total participation numbered 14.

'This won't be easy.'

Seeing the races participating in the Master League promotion match, Seong Jihan thought as much.

While humanity's race rating had risen to lower rank,

Its opponents belonged to at least middle rank or higher.

Starting with extraterrestrial races, who overwhelmed humanity with their sheer size.

=Ah! Player Oliver! Caught as soon as it starts!

=That huge crab-like race! Could it have resistance to magic? It's tearing through barrier spells like paper...!

=Ah. Player Oliver, the first to be eliminated...! I thought he would make it through...!

=Player Je Galheon follows shortly after in defeat...

=It seems the survival map is particularly tough on wizards!

In the survival match, players started targeting the weakest-looking humanity first.

One by one, human players began to die.

[Everyone gather!]

Yoon Sejin, flying around with his sword, collected survivors.

Yet, only five human players remained.

=It happened in a flash...

=However, since the five of them grouped, they're no longer being killed as easily!

=Yes, Player Yoon Sejin chose an excellent position! Blocking paths makes it an easy spot to defend!

=But it seems too wide for Yoon Sejin alone to hold... with paths open in both front and back.

Yoon Sejin's selected position was a favorable high ground for the five players to defend.

Nonetheless, the paths were so vast that five people had difficulty blocking them.

However.

=Ah, Player Yoon Seah! Taking the lead!

=She's holding the front line in her undead state!

=With all the warriors dead except for Yoon Sejin, she's also filling in as a warrior!

Having received Undead Blessing from Seong Jihan, Yoon Seah was fulfilling the role of a warrior among human survivors.

-Yoon Seah's really getting good at being a warrior lolol

-She's literally blocking with her body keke since she regenerates anyway.

-Wow, the five of them work together well. If it keeps up, they might all promote...

-Then it's 2 from Korea, 1 from the US, 1 from China, and 1 from India... Korea's performing the best keke

-?? Because of Seong Jihan, Korea's always been the best.

-Right, what's the big deal lol

If they managed to promote in the Master League, Koreans would dominate the numbers.

However, with expectations raised by Seong Jihan, people showed little excitement for it.

=Oh! Extraterrestrial players are giving up on attacking humanity!

=The 5-man formation was too tight! They're shifting from attacking the organized humans to fighting amongst themselves!

=But they should not leave that position! As long as they survive, they can ascend to the Master League, so they should just hold out!

Thanks to their well-chosen location and successful defense, the five players managed to hold their ground.

All they had to do was wait for others to die while they survived.

And.

=The promotion match ends with successful survival!

=Among the 50 survivors, five are human!

=The MVP goes to... a dragon player!

Tszzz!

As the BattleNet connector opened,

"Wow... That was really tough."

Yoon Seah emerged, visibly exhausted.

"Seems like the Werewolves were on the weaker side. Despite evolving, they're still lower-ranked..."

Yoon Sejin, drenched in sweat, followed, drinking water.

Although they survived narrowly, had they chosen the wrong position, all five might have been wiped out.

Sighing with relief, he looked at Seong Jihan.

"Now it's your turn, Jihan. The main event is about to start."

"The Master League match was so intense; my match might turn out dull in comparison."

"You mean it'll be boring because you're so strong, sweeping everything in one go?"

"Yes."

Agreeing with Yoon Seah's comment, Seong Jihan entered the promotion match.

Star League promotion match.

However, since he'd be facing Grand Master-level participants, the game should be easy.

'Even players I met from the Star League at the Graveyard of Stars were weak.'

I should finish first quickly and then pick the top reward Pythia mentioned.

With casual thoughts, Seong Jihan entered the promotion match.

However.

[The Star League promotion match is about to begin.]

[Players receiving special attention from the administrators gather...]

'Administrator?'

Despite the system message mentioning players under the administrators' attention,

Standing in the darkened void, Seong Jihan kept watching.

[Player Seong Jihan]

[The Green Administrator especially notes you. They propose a special game to the administrators.]

[The Black Administrator agrees.]

[The White Administrator abstains.]

'...Besides the Green, now the Black too?'

While Seong Jihan expected the Green's interest,

Why was the Black Administrator involved?

He was frowning with suspicion when,

[With 2 approvals and 1 abstention, a constellation game will be conducted for Player Seong Jihan.]

[A 'Coronation Ceremony' will commence.]

Blinding light poured down amidst the darkness,

As figures began to appear before Seong Jihan.

[Designate the Ruling Constellation of humanity to inherit the throne.]