Chapter 17: Astral Relic of the Black Star (4)

A gentle sensation brushed Kwon Oh-Jin's lips, and a sweet liquid trickled over his tongue, sliding down his throat.

Gulp.

With a warm touch cradling the back of his head, Kwon Oh-Jin slowly opened his eyes.

“Ugh...”

“Are you awake?”

“... Vega?”

Kwon Oh-Jin saw the beautiful goddess with radiant silver hair and golden eyes. She was in her adult form, the same as when he'd first met her.

His eyes widened as he quickly looked around to assess the situation.

What the...?

He was lying on Vega’s lap, and she was gently stroking his hair like a caring mother.

What the hell?!

He hurriedly tried to sit up.

“Lay down for a little longer.”

“But...”

“Hush. Didn’t I tell you to stay as you are?” Vega commanded. She gently pressed his forehead, pushing his head back on her lap.

Rustle.

Her dress rubbed against the back of his neck and tickled him.

“... What happened?”

“It seems you overexerted yourself. You passed out right after the fight.”

Did she look after me afterward? I can’t believe I fucking dozed off on a Celestial’s lap.

He wondered if he was the first Awakener to have such an experience.

Vega gently placed her hand on his forehead again.

“You are more reckless than you appear,” she said in a slightly reproachful tone. “You should take better care of yourself. You’re only human, are you not?”

“...”

She was the main reason for his earlier recklessness, but he couldn’t bring himself to say that out loud.

“Alright, I’ll be careful.”

“Hmmm.”

Vega looked down at him, displeased.

“Is there a problem?”

“... No.”

She closed her lips shut, clearly dissatisfied.

What could it be?

He contemplated if she was suspicious of him. After all, he had gotten all beat up and just barely won thanks to her blessing after telling her not to worry.

Damn it! What else was I supposed to do?

There was no other way to deal with the slime giant besides using her blessing.

After a moment of deep thought, Vega cleared her throat and averted her gaze.

“Ahem.

Well

...

earlier, didn’t you casually call me by my name?”

“Oh.”

When the giant had hit him, a strange warmth had spread through him, leaving him dazed. In that foggy state, he’d ended up speaking informally.

“I apologize. I was just so out of it.”

Thankfully, she didn't seem too bothered that he'd almost had his ass whooped by the giant.

“I’m not trying to scold you. There have been a few other times you’ve spoken to me casually, haven’t there?”

She was right. He'd dropped all formalities a few times before when he pretended that there was some deeper connection between them.

“... Go ahead.”

“Pardon?”

“If you’d like, you can talk to me without being so formal.”

What’s this all of a sudden?

“I don’t know if that’s really appropriate...”

“Do you not want to?”

“No, it’s not that, but...”

“In our previous lives, didn’t we... have an intimate relationship anyway?”

Nope. We definitely didn’t have anything of that sort.

“Or perhaps...”

Vega stopped stroking his hair and moved down to pinch his cheek hard.

“Are you saying you could be like that with the past version of me but not the one in front of you?”

Her voice was tinged with annoyance.

Why is she acting like this all of a sudden?

Although he was a bit bewildered, he realized he couldn’t reject her right now.

“Okay, I’ll speak with you more casually from now on.”

“Haha, great,” Vega replied with a smile. She sounded pleased.

Crackle!

A spark suddenly flared, and Vega frowned.

“Agh!”

“The restrictions seem to be taking effect.”

It was a given after giving Kwon Oh-Jin her blessing and manifesting in her true form.

“Are you okay?”

“

Hmm

... It could take me a while to recover this time.”

“How long?”

“Two weeks at the earliest, but it could even take a month.”

The recovery time had doubled compared to the last time she'd bestowed her blessing. She had clearly overexerted herself this time.

“... Sorry.”

“Don’t be. There’s nothing for you to apologize for.”

Vega smiled softly as she spoke.

“The creature you faced was at least a five-star monster. It was also different from ordinary monsters.”

Indeed, the monster had felt strangely alien compared to the usual beasts he faced.

“Even though you had my help, you wouldn’t have won if you weren't strong enough yourself.”

“Thank you for saying that.”

Kwon Oh-Jin had been worried that his false confidence during the battle had made her suspicious, but she seemed to trust him even more now.

“Let me get up now...”

Clank.

"

Hmm?"

He noticed some empty glass bottles rolling on the ground—none other than the three intermediate potions he'd prepared for emergencies.

“I used them to speed up your recovery,” Vega said, proudly crossing her arms and puffing out her chest. She flared her norils, clearly expecting Kwon Oh-Jin to praise her.

“I-I see...” he said, forcing a smile as he discreetly clenched his fists.

She fucking used 'em all! How could she use all three at once?!

His blood simmered. He could barely hold back from pulling his hair out in frustration.

S-So much money, all down the drain. Damn it...

He teared up, recalling how each potion was worth millions of won.“

Haha,

you must be so moved to be crying!”

Please just shut the fuck up.

“... H-Ha ha. Yeah, th-thanks.”

He summoned every ounce of patience he had and forced himself to smile. As much as he wanted to grab her by the collar and scream at her, he knew he couldn’t. She was a Celestial he served.

Besides...

A sudden question popped up as he glanced at the empty bottles.

“How did you even feed me these?”

Vega flinched, and her eyes widened. She quickly turned her head to the side.

“D-Don’t worry about it,” she spoke, her voice quivering slightly.

“

Huh?

What do you mean?”

“I... must get going now.”

“Wait, hold on.”

Before he could stop her, Vega turned away and transformed into radiant silver light, retreating into the necklace around his neck.

“... What the hell?”

He stared at the necklace in confusion. An awkward, thick silence filled the bleak chamber.

“Ugh.”

Scratching his head, Kwon Oh-Jin turned away. As curious as he was about how Vega had fed him the potion, there were more pressing matters at hand.

“Hehehe!”

A soft, satisfied laugh escaped his lips as his gaze shifted to the black chalice embedded in the statue. His mouth watered at the sight of it.

“Alright then, let’s see what kind of loot we’ve got here.”

With a leap, he landed on the statue's shoulder and chuckled to himself as he grabbed the chalice.

Crack

.

With a dull sound, the chalice was pulled free from the statue’s forehead.

What kind of power does this thing hold?

His eyes gleamed as he inspected it. The chalice gave off a faint, black aura as well as an unpleasant and sticky feeling.

I'm definitely taking it with me.

He couldn't just throw away his hard-earned Astral Relic. He had no way of knowing its abilities at present, but a specialist could easily assess its powers and grade.

“I hope it's at least a three-star or higher.”

Even a three-star relic could fetch a hundred to two hundred million won. If it turned out to be a four-star, it could go for more than half a billion.

Damn. I can barely contain myself.

Gurgle, gurgle.

“... Huh?”

Suddenly, a strange sensation rippled through his body, similar to the mysterious rush of exhilaration during the fight earlier. He felt hot from head to toe and his throat was parched as if he had just drunk strong liquor.

What the hell?

Instinctively, Kwon Oh-Jin gripped the black chalice with both hands, and a message appeared before his eyes.

[The Black Heaven is absorbing the power of the Black Stars residing in the Astral Relic!]

“Power of the Black Stars?”

What the hell is that?

Before he could wonder any further, a black cloud emerged from his fingertips and completely enveloped the Astral Relic.

Fwoosh.

“Argh!”

The cloud slithered back into his body, but the mana that flowed through it was different; it felt sticky and unpleasant.

[Kwon Oh-Jin has successfully absorbed the power of the Black Stars!]

[The Black Heaven’s features have evolved!]

[The Black Curtain no longer merely conceals the Black Heaven’s energy—it now has the power to obscure any presence. This effect is fully controllable at the user's will.]

[The conditions for the Black Heaven’s third enlightenment have been partially met.]

The cloud fully disappeared into him as if satisfied with its meal.

Fwoosh...

“What the...?”

Kwon Oh-Jin looked down in disbelief. Did the Black Heaven have the ability to absorb the powers of Astral Relics?

Is this even a real Astral Relic though?

He had never heard of an Astral Relic containing something like the power of the Black Stars.

“Was this the ominous energy Vega had felt earlier?”

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The relic definitely seemed different from normal Astral Relics somehow.

“Wait, hold on.”

Whether it was different or not didn’t change the fact that the Black Heaven had just absorbed all the power inside it.

“D-Don’t tell me this is completely useless now?”

In a panic, he flipped the black chalice in many directions, but the dark, sticky aura he had initially felt from it was completely gone.

“No way...”

What the fuck?

“G-Give me back my Astral Relic! Give it back!”

He clenched his fists, seething with rage and regret.

“Nooooo!”

He hadn't even had a chance to figure out the relic's abilities or rank. It was as if an untouched lottery ticket had been torn to shreds.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

His desperate cries echoed throughout the cavern.

Kwon Oh-Jin shoved his fist into his mouth and bawled.

“Sob, sob.

Damn it... I worked so hard to get it, too... This is so damn unfair...”

Thinking logically, he hadn’t lost everything. He had still absorbed the power inside the relic and even made some progress towards the Black Heaven's third enlightenment. On top of that, the Black Curtain had evolved to become even more useful. The things he gained were far more valuable than most Astral Relics.

I know that... but I still feel hella annoyed.

This wasn’t about logic; it was pure emotion. It was like a child tearing open a Christmas present, expecting to find their dream three-in-one transforming robot, only to discover a stack of cash instead. Sure, the money might be enough to buy the robot, but the sting of disappointment still cut deep.

“Damn it.”

He stared at the now useless black chalice with a look of frustration, absently fiddling with it in his hands.

Tap, tap.

“Huh?”

The sound of footsteps echoed through the wide cavern. Kwon Oh-Jin turned towards the source.

“Well, look at that. It seems someone got ahead of us.”

From between the densely packed stalagmites emerged five people clad in black, hooded robes.

Who the hell are these guys?

An ominous energy leaked from under their deeply hooded robes, the same kind of energy he had felt from the chalice earlier.

“

Hmm,

we didn’t expect anyone to enter the gate before us.”

A man with a soft, calming voice stepped forward and pulled down his hood. He had light brown hair, and his narrow eyes glanced at the black chalice in Kwon Oh-Jin’s hand. He then sighed.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked, raising the chalice in his hand.

“

Haha.

Yes, but it seems we’re too late.”

The brown-haired man scratched his head with a disarming smile.

“It’s something we desperately needed, too... What are we going to do now?”

The young man narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharpening into something unsettling, a coldness creeping beneath the surface.

“Is that so?”

Kwon Oh-Jin twirled the chalice in his hand as he walked toward them. He then extended it in their direction.

“Would you like to buy this from me, then?” He asked, wearing the same sly smile as the young man dressed in black.