It was around that time.
[Taurus Destroyed]
[Merged into Serpent Master?]
Joseph, the Ten-Star of Taurus, was in a state of mental breakdown.
The extinction of the Constellation God. And the disappearance of the Saint.
On top of that, the obliteration of Taurus's sanctuary.
Everything had vanished like ashes.
The ancient battle constellation that once commanded the southern hemisphere alongside Libra had disappeared without a trace.
"What? Even the Constellation God's palace is gone?"
"Even all the artifacts we've accumulated?"
And this place was Egypt.
It was Taurus's main palace.
That was because the ruler of Taurus was the sacred holy bull depicted in Egypt, Apis.
He hadn't established his base here for nothing.
And Taurus's sanctuary wasn't just in Egypt. It extended through West Asia and the Middle East to India.
All the arid regions where ancient civilizations had flourished were Taurus's domain.
That was because there were countries with cultures that venerated the bull, allowing Taurus to take root more quickly.
And Taurus was ranked 3rd among all constellations, a great and outstanding battle constellation that contributed to the world alongside Europe's overlord and America's ruler ...
"The palaces really have disappeared without a trace."
Outstanding constellation...
"They say it was devoured by Lee Geon? Even the Constellation God and the Saint."
...it should have been an outstanding constellation.
Eventually, Joseph buried his face in his hands as he gazed upon the Taurus sanctuary, with only its site remaining.
He was practically on the verge of tears.
Nothing remained at the sacred site of the great bull, filled with the energy of earth and sand.
The reason was simple.
"It seems all the buildings turned to sand."
"And I heard it all blew away somewhere. The disciples must have checked during the night."
"Right. Even the disciples' dormitories all turned to sand particles, causing chaos in the middle of the night."
"They say it headed toward Korea."
"What? Korea is Lee Geon's sanctuary territory, isn't it?"
"Wasn't it the Divine Palace constellation?"
"Huh? The Divine Palace constellation still existed?"
Joseph despaired at the murmuring around him.
They said the snake had swallowed the bull, and it seemed that saying was true.
'Damn it, at this rate, it would have been better to be under his command!'
Back then, they said the last-place and second-place guys had both become Lee Geon's subordinates. He had mocked them as shameless cowards without pride, but they were the wise ones after all.
'Because they didn't lose everything they had.'
With this, the disciples of Taurus had lost their homes and all their possessions.
Well, strictly speaking, it was everything linked to Taurus.
[All holy relics granted by the Constellation God have turned to sand.]
[Everything of the Bull is being absorbed by the Serpent Master.]
It seemed that merging meant taking everything related to the constellation.
Therefore, all tangible materials were broken down and sent toward the Serpent Master.
Data was being transmitted.
And whether to preserve them or create new ones was entirely up to Lee Geon's will.
'At this point, it's not a merger; it's plunder.'
Shouldn't they at least leave the bull's original forms?
Eventually, as even the black bull statue completely turned to ash and vanished, Joseph fell into despair.
Even the aura of the great bull that had surrounded his body disappeared, and a strange, venomous snake-like magical power began to surge.
The reason was simple.
[Temporarily possessed by the energy of the serpent.]
[Temporarily receiving serpent's magic power, skills can be used.]
[Provisional contract end time: 2400 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds]
[If you do not achieve 100% faith within that time, all skills and physical stats you have developed will disappear, and you will revert to an ordinary human.]
[If you don't like it, raise your faith.]
Was it because the Constellation God had been replaced? A threatening voice came out of nowhere.
The voice sent "encouragement" (?) to all the elite disciples of Taurus.
[Hang in there. If you do well, maybe you can get your holy relics back on a first-come, first-served basis.]
And at that vicious voice of Lee Geon, Joseph fell into a mental breakdown.
But Joseph wasn't the only one in a state of mental breakdown.
"No... I mean, why me?"
Puffin, who had been abruptly sent to Egypt, was the same.
[Puffin (21)] Serpent Master's 5th disciple
He was a striker for Leo, and had happened to catch Lee Geon's eye while at the stadium where Lee Geon had taken just three seconds to defeat him.
Well, it seemed like he'd be killed if he didn't join, and besides, it felt like Lee Geon had recognized his ability, so joining the Serpent Master was fine, but...
- Good. You had Serpent Master faith at 50% and reached 100%, right? Go to the Taurus side and train those guys. Give them advice, too.
Puffin despaired.
No, he had indeed hit 100% Serpent Master faith.
He'd been dragged away by Seongjae, locked up for three full days, made to watch Lee Geon documentaries, read the Lee Geon Bible instead of newspapers, and listen to Lee Geon hymns as lullabies.
After being brainwashed by Seongjae and the servant gods like that, he had indeed reached 100%.
So it seemed he was sent to raise the faith of the Taurus disciples.
'How on earth can I do that?'
And even if he did, he wasn't sure they'd actually raise it.
And then, at that moment.
There was someone patting Puffin on the back.
"Hey, don't worry too much. If it doesn't work, you can just abandon them."
The one patting him was none other than Hugo.
He had come here via Kevin's sanctuary because of Lee Geon.
Why?
'Please, just eat meals and watch movies alone.'
That was why.
It was because of a happening before coming here.
Lee Geon had received various gifts for the drachma matter, and one of them was a dinner invitation to a 7-star hotel.
Well, normally he would have handed it out to others, but the monster meat menu seemed to have caught his interest.
And maybe he'd get in trouble if he went alone.
Since it was an invitation for two, he kept trying to drag him along, so Hugo threw it back and told him to go with Hayley, and then came here.
And now.
'Anyway, disciples from battle constellations are useful.'
If he could successfully convert these Taurus disciples to the Serpent Master, it would be a gain for Lee Geon.
'Geon said his goal is the Lord of .'
And he said there were six out of ten lords who had taken Earth's territory.
He'd dealt with two of them, so four remained.
was one of them.
And like the other lords, Time wandered through other worlds and wasn't present on Earth.
He said they'd need the power of other lords and Constellation Gods to find that guy.
And according to Hayley, the remaining lords were no ordinary ones.
They might change the axis of time, or if unlucky, you could fall into a strange world.
'Anyway, we need to raise the divine status and disciples so both Geon and we can grow stronger.'
Since he was under the Serpent Master, if Geon grew, they would grow too.
There was no problem.
But.
"Faith? What bastard likes that piece of trash? Do you think faith will go up?"
At that, Lee Jae-won, who had come along as Hugo's guard, let out a snort.
"Shall I buy you some drink, my lord?"
"D-rink?"
"I think if my lord throws a drunken fit, faith will shoot up quickly."
Hugo looked at Lee Jae-won with displeasure.
And there was a function that had started to appear along with a notification of reaching level 5.
[Lee Jae-won (S-rank)]
[Divine Palace Faith 91%]
[Serpent Master Faith 120%]
It was a function to see other people's faith.
That's why he was pissed.
"Hey! I'm close with Geon too, but not as much as you! When you were a porter, I cherished you way more than Geon did..."
"Yes, yes. After Lee Geon-nim passed away, it was me, a student preparing for exams, who consoled you every day when you threw drunken tantrums about missing Geon."
"Wha, what?"
"Even after meeting the lady of the house, you went on about, 'I couldn't save Geon, do I even deserve to be this happy?' and prevented me from studying for my exams."
"I didn't do that!!!"
"I did get into a good university, but sigh, it was tough. Anyway, I'll go buy drinks. Will ten boxes be enough?"
"Hey, Lee Jae-won, you!!!"
But soon, just as Lee Jae-won was about to order drinks on his phone, his eyes widened.
"My lord! This!"
"!"
* * *
On the other hand, around the same time.
The Great Sandy, Australia.
This tower, where all of humanity's equipment and holy relics were made, was in an uproar.
It was because of a proclamation by the Magal constellation.
"Is what those people are saying true?"
"What? A membership system?"
"No, leaving the membership aside, they're saying people who have entrusted items to the Serpent Master are completely blacklisted? They won't even accept repair requests?"
The disciples who had come to entrust items were stirring at the words of the Magal constellation.
At this point, it was practically tyranny.
But the Magal constellation seemed to think they had good reason.
"Reputation is a very important factor for a constellation. Especially for us, a crafting constellation deeply tied to reputation, the damage is immense. This is a natural measure."
"How can we trust those who led the charge in harming our constellation?"
People stirred.
But in truth, the Magal constellation disciples were in a desperate situation.
'We were already going to have the big support we'd been promised scattered because of Lee Geon!'
That was it.
After dealing with , was it in Europe?
Since appeared in the middle of the Black Zone, humanity had gained hope for reclaiming territory.
And that led to talks of a subjugation war.
'A subjugation war requires all kinds of equipment.'
Because of that, various organizations, including the World Government, had promised support to the Genius Workshop and the Magal constellation.
But because of Lee Geon's emergence...!
'The support funds coming to us are about to be cut in half.'
They said:
- Can't you both just make good items?
- It would be good if you joined forces for humanity.
But their pride was hurt by those words.
'Are they crazy?'
'You shouldn't go so far in promoting an amateur.'
Of course, they acknowledged it. His combat prowess was the best.
But.
'Do you think fighting and crafting, two different paths, are the same in skill?'
'And thanks to that, only our Magal constellation's reputation is being damaged.'
So all the workshops under the Magal constellation had declared unity.
"Those who entrust item crafting to the Serpent Master should keep doing so only with them."
"Anyone who has even gone to ask for a quote is banned from all our affiliate workshops."
"What?! Now, that's too much!"
Eventually, at that point, the disciples began to stir.
"What do we do?"
"Won't it be okay?"
"Right. They said Lee Geon can quickly make items below S-rank, too."
"That's true, but... if we entrust it to Lee Geon, we won't be able to set foot in the Genius Workshop at all."
"Right. They say it was the Magal constellation's god who made the Imperial Relic and the Sky's Judgment... That is overwhelming after all..."
"Oh, but didn't that have some suspicion before?"
"Of course it's just a suspicion, media play. It's the kind of thing a new constellation does to increase disciples."
"We trust our Constellation God. We even saw the process of making the Sky's Judgment. Right?"
"Oh, really?"
At those words, the Magal constellation disciples smiled.
Everything was going according to plan.
But.
"But they said the bow of the Divine Palace constellation that defeated the monster in Drachma was also made by Lee Geon, didn't they?"
"Oh, really?"
At that, the Magal constellation disciples' eyes flashed.
"A bow? If we have the blueprint, we can make it too!"
"Right! Ask them to release the blueprint!"
At that shout, someone who had come to observe the situation spoke up.
"Blueprint? Ssin-nim doesn't keep things like that..."
"!"
It was the Scribe who spoke.
"Lee Geon doesn't write separate blueprints when he crafts. He designs everything in his head and then just makes it right away, it seems."
At that, the craftsmen were dumbfounded.
"It's not like making art! Do you know how complicated crafting equipment is!"
"You're a Serpent Master disciple, right? So you're taking their side."
"But it's true..."
"Anyway, Lee Geon takes four weeks even for an S-rank weapon. We can do it in as little as two weeks. If you entrust it to Lee Geon, you'll have to wait a long time. Think carefully."
But then, at that moment.
"Two weeks?"
At a familiar laugh, people stirred.
It couldn't be helped.
"It's Lee Geon!"
"Lee Geon??"
The craftsmen seemed surprised by the appearance of the man himself.
But.
"I heard you guys were so full of yourselves, so I came to see the weapons you made."
"!!"
Lee Geon soon picked up a sword from the display stand.
It was a sword displayed as A-rank.
"This. How long did it take to make?"
"That? We can do it in three days. Fast, right?"
At that, Lee Geon let out a dumbfounded laugh.
"Three days? This piece of junk? I could make it in thirty minutes."
"?!"
The craftsmen were in an uproar.
"Are you insulting us!"
"No matter what, there are things you should and shouldn't say...!"
Then.
Bang!
As if they had been waiting for Lee Geon, the craftsmen came rushing over with a blueprint.
"We just received support funds."
"Oh?"
"They said to give some to the Serpent Master too, but these support funds and materials that just came in are ones our Constellation God is particularly looking forward to. Our god does not wish to share."
"Is that so?"
"So, let's take the same blueprint and fairly compare who can make it better. It's an S-rank weapon."
At those words, Lee Geon laughed.
He came because he thought he could plunder materials, but now it was a blueprint and support funds the Constellation God was eagerly awaiting.
"Fine. Call your best craftsman here."
They immediately went to summon the Ten-Star and the Constellation God.
"You can use those materials over there."
Lee Geon, who went into the warehouse, and the Scribe who followed, widened their eyes.
It couldn't be helped.
"These bastards, even if they give materials!"
The materials in the warehouse looked fine on the surface and were abundant, but they were basically low-quality.
No matter what you did with them, you'd only get B-rank at best.
So the sharp-eyed Scribe immediately tried to protest.
"I'll go say something right..."
But Lee Geon grabbed him by the arm.
"It's fine. This'll be enough."
"What?"
(To be continued...)