The Regressor's Guide to Raising Constellations

Chapter 8. Transcendence

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in Yoo Se-hee’s room.

Not a moment had passed since I activated History Alteration.

[Achievement ‘History Alteration’ accomplished.]

[The presence of the Unnamed Constellation becomes slightly clearer.]

A system message announced the achievement, but I had no time to dwell on it. Yoo Se-hee was the priority.

Wooong.

I immediately activated , connecting with her as she was dying from synchronization overload. Using , I regulated her synchronization rate. The wildly fluctuating rate stabilized instantly, locking at 10%.

Her nosebleed finally stopped.

With a sigh of relief, I observed her inner state through our connection.

‘For a body that hasn’t awakened, 10% of a five-star spirit’s power is the most it can handle.’

Ten percent was the minimum synchronization rate to unlock a spirit’s first awakening skill. Her earlier danger stemmed from an external shock—likely the twelve constellations’ gazes—causing her rate to spike beyond her body’s limits, injuring her with excessive starlight.

The overwhelming power bestowed by transcendent beings wasn’t always beneficial to humans. Too much of a good thing could be harmful.

“Phew, at least I wasn’t too late.”

Her internal injuries hadn’t reached an irreversible point. The reduced starlight baptism was now healing her rapidly. While excessive starlight was harmful, in moderation, it was a beneficial force—the source of an awakener’s superhuman power.

Though awakeners’ abilities were categorized as mana, force, inner energy, or ether, they were all just variations of starlight.

As I pondered this, I noticed something odd.

‘…Wait, how do I know this?’

The correlation between starlight and other energies wasn’t fully understood even ten years in the future, yet I was certain starlight was the root of all power.

This wasn’t my knowledge, nor the spirits’.

‘…Constellation?’

By process of elimination, it had to be my constellation’s knowledge. But why now?

Before, even when my constellation descended, its knowledge never flowed into me. What had changed?

‘Oh!’

I recalled the message I hadn’t fully checked after History Alteration, confirming my constellation’s rank had been restored.

But why?

I knew History Alteration was the cause, but the exact reason eluded me. A constellation’s rank corresponded to its authority and influence. Having lost its name and past glory, my constellation had only me as its follower.

‘Because Henrietta completed her two-star promotion?’

That didn’t seem right. Henrietta was under the Yeto Constellation, so her growth shouldn’t strengthen my constellation—unless she had switched allegiance.

“Wait, could that actually be it?”

I examined Henrietta’s star within me. She was still under the Yeto Constellation but also tied to my Unnamed Constellation, her allegiance split evenly between them.

In other words, the second star from her promotion belonged to my Unnamed Constellation.

“…Hah.”

Was that even possible?

A wry laugh escaped me at this revelation. I had thought the only way to restore my constellation was by growing stronger myself, but now there was another path.

‘By promoting spirits under other constellations and completing their promotion through History Alteration, I can restore my constellation faster.’

My goal hadn’t changed—I still needed to promote spirits to grow stronger.

“Ugh…”

Yoo Se-hee groaned, stirring as if about to wake. Her starlight baptism was complete, faster than expected, likely due to Overmind stabilizing her synchronization rate.

She opened her eyes, her expression sour.

“Hey, Lee Han-seong, about that thing earlier…”

She started to question the twelve constellations’ gazes that caused her overload but stopped, noticing the unconscious dire wolf in the room. Glancing out the broken window, she saw the sudden rift and let out a hollow laugh.

“…Wow, the sudden rift was real?”

“Told you. I need your help.”

“With what?”

“I’m going to stop the rift. Will you help?”

“…Hah. Sorry, but I was already planning to, even without you saying it. You think I’m some coward who’d run from a rift?”

Realizing my warnings were true and her assumptions were wrong, Yoo Se-hee snapped in an embarrassed, prickly tone, but her words were affirmative.

“Thanks.”

“Save the thanks. What’s the plan?”

She asked for details.

“Seong-cheol and Yu-seong are probably fighting monsters at the men’s dormitory. I want to join them.”

“Join them? Can we win?”

Yoo Se-hee glanced at the rift outside. The expanding rift was consolidating its tendrils into a larger portal.

Crack!

From the concentrated tendrils emerged a wolf and rider 1.5 times larger than the others—an alpha dire wolf (two-star) and a hobgoblin rider (three-star), as expected. Integrated, they were between three and four stars in strength.

—Awoooo!

The alpha howled, and goblin wolf riders gathered around them. Already integrated, each pair exuded a 2.5-star presence, like the berserk goblin champion from Henrietta’s history. Over twenty pairs lined up before the hobgoblin rider.

Gooo!

The hobgoblin activated 《Swarm》, uniting them. Their collective rank surged, reaching four-star danger level.

But that wasn’t the real issue. The rift showed no signs of closing, meaning more three-star monsters could emerge. Even with our group’s swarm, casualties were possible.

—Grrr?

The dire wolf in the room stirred, awakened by the alpha’s howl. Before it could register under the alpha’s , I activated Henrietta’s awakening skill.

《Monster Taming》.

Whack.

I could’ve killed it, but taming it for mobility would be more useful in stopping the rift.

“Sit.”

Making the wolf lie down, I activated and mounted it, then extended a hand to Yoo Se-hee.

“You asked if we have a chance. We do, but if we don’t move now, that chance will slip away.”

There was no time to persuade her. If she didn’t take my hand, I’d have to drag her along.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

Thankfully, she grabbed my hand and climbed onto the wolf without resistance.

Click.

I signaled the wolf with my thighs, and it leaped out, shattering the remaining window.

Crash!

Outside, I activated .

Wooong.

was like a wave, syncing with the target’s frequency for communication. Normally, it emitted one type of wave, but with Overmind, I could emit multiple simultaneously.

‘Park Seong-cheol, Jin Yu-seong, Yoo Se-hee, dire wolf.’

The wave of Empathy spread to the three candidates and the tamed wolf, resonating with them as I activated Henrietta’s new destiny awakening skill.

《Swarm》.

Hwaaak!

The five of us, my twelve spirits, and the descended constellation were tightly linked as one swarm. With seven lives left from 《Nine Lives》, I burned another to chain another destiny awakening skill.

《Transcendence》.

‘Six lives left.’

The destiny awakening skill I gained upon my one-star awakening, 《Transcendence》, was unleashed for the first time.

Flash!

Normally, Transcendence applied to a single entity. But a swarm, though many, was treated as one. Its effect extended to everyone linked by 《Swarm》.

Since 《Transcendence》 stemmed from spirit promotion, its effect was temporary promotion.

My one-star self, my spirits, and the dire wolf rose to two-star. The unawakened candidates became one-star awakeners.

Everyone’s rank rose by one tier.

Without new achievements, we gained no new skills or destiny awakening skills, but this was enough.

[‘Pheidippides’ temporarily reaches two-star, converting destiny awakening skill 《Shrinking Earth Village》 to a general awakening skill.]

[‘Duren Spirit’ temporarily reaches two-star, converting destiny awakening skill 《Sky Severing》 to a general awakening skill.]

…

[‘Blundel Violet’ temporarily reaches two-star, converting destiny awakening skill 《Toxic Zone》 to a general awakening skill.]

Destiny awakening skills, which required a life to use, became general awakening skills during 《Transcendence》, adding ten new awakening skills without life cost, excluding 《Swarm》 and 《Transcendence》 itself.

The new awakening skills weren’t just mine.

—Awoooo!

The dire wolf, now an alpha, could use 《Moonlit Dash》. The candidates, temporarily one-star awakeners with expanded synchronization limits, reached 20% synchronization via Overmind, unlocking their spirits’ second awakening skills.

‘…!’

All this happened in an instant after 《Transcendence》 activated. In that moment, everyone in the swarm was akin to my constellation’s followers.

[The descent of the Unnamed Constellation extends to the swarm.]

[The constellation’s influence begins to manifest outwardly.]

[A faint blessing of the constellation enhances all swarm actions.]

‘The priority is closing the rift.’

Among the new awakening skills, one was perfect.

Shing!

On the running wolf, I drew my demonic sword, aiming at the rift. Duren, a swordsman who trained in slashing daily for sixty years, achieved the feat of cutting lightning, earning the Golden Constellation’s blessing and the destiny awakening skill 《Sky Severing》.

《Sky Severing》.

The ultimate vertical slash. I didn’t expect a first-tier awakening skill to close the rift, but with the constellation’s blessing, I had hope.

Saaak!

As my demonic sword sliced the sky, a dark scar appeared at the rift’s center. Though insufficient to close it, the scar—perhaps due to the sword’s life-devouring nature or the constellation’s blessing—exuded a strange suction force.

The constellation’s blessing likely imbued the sword’s properties into the slash.

Zwoooop!

The rift’s tendrils were sucked into the scar like a vacuum, collapsing into a single point. The rift vanished instantly, leaving only the scar from 《Sky Severing》, which soon faded, satisfied with consuming the rift.

“That stops more monsters from spawning.”

Now, we just had to deal with the ones already here.

“…If that was possible, why not close the rift before the monsters came out?” Yoo Se-hee muttered, staring blankly at the vanished rift.

“No, it worked because the rift’s instability increased.”

If I had used 《Sky Severing》 when the rift first appeared, the constellation-blessed slash might’ve amplified the rift, like the twelve constellations’ gazes. There was a brief window to close it before the hobgoblin rider appeared, but—

“Anyway, what matters now is dealing with those guys, not what’s past.”

I pointed at the hobgoblin rider’s swarm, shifting the topic. While the rift closed, over thirty pairs of goblin wolf riders had gathered in the training field, glaring at us with murderous intent, aware we were the culprits.

“We haven’t joined Seong-cheol and Yu-seong yet.”

“Join them? We can do that now.”

They’d have to break through the goblin riders to reach us, but I spoke simply, activating Pheidippides’ awakening skill under my constellation’s guidance.

《Shrinking Earth Village》.

Flash!

Pheidippides, the legendary marathon runner, earned the Sun Constellation’s blessing, turning his feat into a blinking skill that crossed space. Normally, it only moved the user, but with my constellation’s blessing, it applied to the entire swarm.

Activating it teleported everyone connected by 《Swarm》 to the target location.

‘Just as my constellation predicted.’

The next moment, seeing Seong-cheol and Yu-seong summoned beside us, I nodded, as if it was only natural. This application of 《Shrinking Earth Village》 was my constellation’s suggestion, so it couldn’t be wrong.

My swarm, ready to face the hobgoblin rider’s, was now complete.