A panel appeared and it surprised Shun for a bit, but knowing the Monarch God is a true deity, it wasn't strange that He could communicate with him.
'He' could reach him no matter where Shun was.
Besides that, Shun studied the censored word. Different from the description of the dried plum, this seemed to lack a few syllables.
"What does that mean?"
[The Constellation Monarch God explains that you are not ready.]
Okay, that's very helpful, he commented dryly.
"Where am I? What are you trying to show me?" He shifted the topic.
[The Constellation Monarch God assures you this isn't His doing and you will return safely.]
As soon as he saw those words, something seemed to engulf him and throw him across billions of galaxies like a ball being hurled across a field.
Swoosh!
Everything stretched and looked incomprehensible.
Before he knew it, he saw Earth, and then everything became black. It was like someone turned off the world.
His eyes jerked open. As his thoughts scattered from everything that had just occurred, he slowly took in his surroundings.
The ambient noises around him—the chirps of birds and occasional roars of animals—started to become clear, and he noticed the fog slowly lowering its thick curtain.
As much as Shun wanted to know what time it was, he didn't have any device to tell him, so he just guessed from the stars.
But as soon as he laid his eyes there, his pupils trembled. He even forgot to breathe as the shock bloomed within him.
"What is that thing?"
Beyond the space where the black hole was, there was something next to it.
This thing had an enormous black mass with elongated human arms. In the middle was a curved mouth like that of a human.
Imagine it as clay in a round shape with human figurine arms attached, and then the artist carved a crude mouth into it. Behind this clay was a pair of wings made from faces of despair and agony, flapping slowly with each second.
The arms gripped the black hole and, as though it had a physical form, tore it apart and stuffed it into its mouth.
As this occurred, a giant red bar appeared just above Shun's vision.
[Nightmare - Lvl ???]
That thing is someone else's nightmare?! Shun exclaimed in realization, speechless.
How was the person who conjured such a nightmare going to deal with this monstrosity? Such a thought flashed through his mind, and he couldn't help but perform a funeral prayer.
He rubbed his hands together and earnestly prayed for the safe passage of the soul to the other world.
Anyway, with the nightmare that truly deserved its name in the sky—devouring a damn black hole like it was a five-star meal, savoring it bit by bit—
It was safe to assume the existence of other hunters.
It opened a lot of opportunities, both good and bad.
Hunters might actively seek others. Shun would have to tread carefully without making mistakes. If he found a hunter stronger than himself, it would be wise to take them down as soon as any suspicious movement was caught.
Instilling that into his mind, Shun prepared himself for the worst.
Following that, he remembered that before he went to sleep, his constellation had said something about making a miscalculation, and soon after, he had noticed a terrifying existence in the sky before falling asleep.
With all of that, it was natural that his mind began piecing things together, and a sudden thought flashed: "Is this the Monarch God's doing?"
He waited for a response. 'He' had been actively interacting with Shun lately and seemed to be a rather moody deity—more so than he had expected from what he thought to be a detached and cold god.
However, there was no response, and Shun simply cast aside the question to the edge of his mind.
He drifted his eyes from the enormous creature to the stars.
Just like anything in this world that humans turned into tools to help them survive, the stars were no different.
Although they were beyond humanity's grasp, like beings looking down from the heavens, they could not escape humanity's nature to be used as tools.
Shun's eyes drifted across the universe and came to a halt when he found the northern sky. He looked carefully for one constellation.
"There it is." He smiled faintly and, using that as a reference point, began the calculation needed to figure out the time.
After taking the required measurement, Shun determined it was the middle of the night.
He retracted his gaze back to the earth and looked at his clear surroundings.
"The fog lifted at midnight," Shun said in realization, taking note of it.
Now, with everything that had just happened without pause, he fell into a trance, sorting the information he had gained.
The insights connected to the mysteries surrounding this town and the possibility that cosmic forces were at play in its destruction.
Nightmare creatures with different purposes.
Other hunters, of whom he must remain wary.
The Special Class Heart, with—or maybe guarded by—that enormous serpent.
The Dream Realm, and how he couldn't proceed with his current objective—building a temple—because he was in a dream prison.
That strange vision after eating the prune.
And all the questions that had been lingering in the crude corners of his mind.
He let out a heavy breath and said dryly, "Why do things get complicated?"
He cast that thought aside with a bitter chuckle and opened his UI panel.
———
Name: Osamu Shun
Level: 7
Dream Shards: 5/1500
Heart: A Nascent Heart (common)
Rank: Dormant (Ascension is available)
Ability: Aura Manipulation
Exclusive Ability: Living Alloy
Skills: Echo of the Divine Forge
Passive Skill: Memory of Flesh
Divine Symbol: Absurdity of You
———
Status:
Strength: 24 (+25)*
Durability: 6 (+30)*
Agility: 23 (-15)*
Magic: 11
Perception: 6 (+20)*
*Modifier source: [Living Alloy] transformation (temporary state)
———
He immediately noticed his status had increased by a single digit. His heart swelled with happiness, beating faster. As if the nerves could feel their master's joy, his hands began to tremble. He let out a small smile.
Finally, after eight years, it had changed.
Yes, it was only one digit. Yes, it didn't increase his strength by more than maybe 0.3%.
And yet it was a big breakthrough.
He had always thought he would stay there forever, unable to break his limit—but today, finally!
After a brief celebration in his mind, he calmed down and focused on one thing.
[Dream Shards: 5/1500]
Now, what could this mean? Shun could roughly guess this was the reason his status had gone up by one, but where could he gain more Dream Shards?
Killing creatures? Maybe. He had killed around four living beings and one undead, but he needed to make sure this was the case.
Thankfully, the side effects of [Memory of Flesh] had disappeared, so he got up and felt quite fresh—though his injuries lingered.
Pain stung across every inch of his body, but it was slightly better than before and still endurable.
He encased his eyes with aura, and the darkness faded slightly, increasing his vision. As his gaze drifted across the empty field, he stopped when he saw a six-legged cow sleeping.
He couldn't believe his eyes. He closed them, opened them again—and the cow was still there, flapping its ears.
Acknowledging its existence as real and not a hallucination, Shun approached quietly.
When he was just in front of the mammal, he summoned his dagger, cloaked it with a yellow glow of aura, and slashed its neck in a clean cut—like a blade through paper.
The mammal didn't even scream, and may not have felt pain at all.
Its head plopped, and blood gushed out, forming a pool beneath it.
Shun checked his status, but the Dream Shards hadn't increased. His expression remained flat—he wasn't disappointed. He had prepared for such an outcome.
It was a shame that killing a creature didn't grant him Dream Shards. If it had, he could have become incredibly powerful within minutes.