Contract

The long, long tutorial has ended.

Still, it was conducted shorter than the original plan.

It was inevitable to reduce the period to create an advance team as quickly as possible and to nurture personnel who would raise the later troops.

Originally, the plan was to allow about a month for an ample adaptation period.

From next time, it will proceed normally.

Instead of immediately going into the tutorial, the advance team will educate them and help them adapt.

As it’s labeled as a beta, Constellations don’t have to choose players as apostles yet.

In the first place, only about 5 people have passed the tutorial now.

Those who passed without respawning even once. Those who could be called elite among the elite.

It felt strangely endearing that Haemi was among them.

Even though I haven’t taught her anything yet.

That’s not to say the competition is less fierce.

They are the cream of the crop who passed the tutorial without any support.

The fierce competition to accept them as apostles was naturally expected.

Constellations who were watching from different channels appeared on one channel.

It was time to bid after watching a highlight-style edited video of those 5 people’s activities.

The first player to appear was a woman with red hair that looked like it was burning.

The video flows immediately.

At first, she was a woman with ordinary black hair like others.

Then, when she checked her skills, flames suddenly rise up.

Thus, her hair was dyed red.

She had her long hair tied up, and it looked like the tied hair was wavering and burning like fire.

She had a sharp and irritable appearance.

Overall, she had a martial arts style of combat. She also chose knuckles as her weapon.

She seemed to prefer close combat, fighting close rather than shooting skills from a distance.

Her main combat style was to ignite flames and wrap them around her hands while attacking.

[‘The Closest Hope’ offers the apostleship to Hong Harin.]

[‘The One Who Floats Leisurely’ offers the apostleship to Hong Harin.]

[‘The One Who Covers the World’s Blanket’ offers the apostleship to Hong Harin.]

Those who offered apostleship to Hong Harin were mainly these three.

Others made offers too, but upon hearing their names, they gave up bidding.

Most were those with concepts related to the sky.

The identity of the Closest Hope was the Sun.

Just having the word “closest” attached is a title that cannot be ignored.

Thinking about its origin, one can easily infer.

It was the star that shines closest to Earth.

Unlike others, it was a real star. Thus, it was one who became a Constellation before anyone else.

The One Who Floats Leisurely is Cloud.

Cloud was also connected to concepts like dreams and sleep.

Perhaps because of that, he’s nodding off while hugging a pillow even now.

Looking at him now, he’s even wearing pajamas.

He didn’t seem to match well with the player named Hong Harin.

They didn’t seem to have any synergy between them.

Well, he’s still a Constellation, so he must have had some thought to attempt the bid.

The One Who Covers the World’s Blanket was Abyss.

Blanket also means night, and further, it can mean the end.

It’s similar to how sleep signifies the end of a day. Don’t we express a person’s death as entering an eternal sleep?

Like Cloud, it didn’t seem like a combination that would create synergy with Hong Harin, who was related to fire.

But Hong Harin doesn’t know that fact.

For now, she had to judge based only on the Constellation name.

Each Constellation tries to persuade by showing the benefits they will provide to Hong Harin.

The condition presented by the Sun was to strengthen the concept related to fire.

It was a condition to give a strong concept related to fire as a trait.

In other words, he said he would invest strong magic power.

Cloud didn’t present a condition and essentially declared forfeit.

Abyss tried to persuade by saying he would give concepts derived from fire, not fire itself.

Things like shadows created as the fire rises, or the cold chill felt when far from the fire.

He said he would give additional skills.

The Sun offered her a trait, suggesting a path specialized in one thing.

In contrast, Abyss tried to persuade by offering her skills, giving versatility that could branch out into various paths.

Hong Harin’s choice was the Sun.

[Hong Harin and ‘The Closest Hope’ form a contract.]

“That’s right. Unique skills are that powerful. It’s right to focus on that as the main.”

“Being unique means that it can symbolize oneself.”

That’s not to say the direction Abyss proposed was wrong.

For someone with an ambiguous unique skill, it might be better to increase versatility.

But since Hong Harin had talent, the value of that proposal just faded.

The next player who came up was a blond man.

He had the typical image that comes to mind when thinking of a hero.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, holding a giant greatsword.

The fact that he’s holding a greatsword, a weapon an ordinary person wouldn’t choose, arouses interest.

He uses naturally, as if he’s been using it all his life, a weapon that an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to handle properly.

It’s the result of having relevant knowledge or self-acquired experience originally, and adding the effect of traits on top of that.

[‘The One Who Has Kept One Place’ offers the apostleship to Park Choonsik.]

[‘The One Who Floats Leisurely’ offers the apostleship to Park Choonsik.]

[‘The One Who Embraces Warmly’ offers the apostleship to Park Choonsik.]

He was a player with a rather rustic name, unlike his sophisticated appearance.

This time, quite a lot of Constellations applied, and if we pick out the prestigious ones, there were those three.

Most of the Constellations who attempted to bid were those closely related to the earth. Except for Cloud.

‘The One Who Has Kept One Place’ was a Constellation with concepts related to rocks.

He has many concepts specialized in enduring, such as steadfastness and firmness.

If one wants to perform a role like a tank, there’s no better Constellation.

Cloud once again only attempts to bid without taking any other action.

I get that he looks tired and sleepy. I understand that he finds everything troublesome.

But if so, he didn’t have to bid in the first place.

I really can’t understand what he’s thinking.

‘The One Who Embraces Warmly’ was a Constellation with concepts related to natural objects like forests and mountains.

He has concepts specialized in healing and protection, such as warmth and comfort.

While ‘The One Who Has Kept One Place’ focuses on tanking, ‘The One Who Embraces Warmly’ adds a support function to protect others.

Both began to appeal their advantages.

As they were around mid-tier, they seemed to want to seize this opportunity.

If they raise the player well, it’s not impossible to leap to the upper tier.

From that perspective, Cloud was an unusual case.

Despite being in the same mid-tier, he didn’t show much strong will.

Even now, unlike the two who are racking their brains to present better conditions, he’s just playing around, having a conversation with Park Choonsik through messages.

He didn’t seem to be sending any special proposals via messages either.

Park Choonsik seemed to be contemplating, then chose someone completely different from what was expected.

[Park Choonsik forms a contract with ‘The One Who Floats Leisurely’.]

When everyone turned to Cloud in surprise, Cloud made a weak V sign with a weary smile.

“What conversation did they have?”

“It probably wasn’t anything important. Just ordinary talk, everyday conversation like that.”

He probably talked about ordinary daily life that’s hard to get in the Tower.

That chattering conversation might have touched the heart more than any other conditions.

There are bound to be those who find such comfortable conversations more appealing than rigid conditions.

Time seemed to understand and nodded.

“And the compatibility isn’t that bad either. Rather, combining with those two might have been counterproductive.”

Cloud can help smoothly link to the next attack, like flowing.

“That’s true. A greatsword is more suited for attack than defense.”

“Those two had the wrong focus.”

The next player to come up was a gloomy-looking person wearing a black hood.

They were so bundled up that it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female.

They had a combat style similar to what’s commonly called an assassin, attacking while hiding in the shadows.

This time, it didn’t take long to make a choice.

Well, this time there was someone who clearly matched.

[Kang Soyun forms a contract with ‘The One Who Covers the World’s Blanket’.]

They cleanly completed the contract with ‘Abyss’.