My vision was filled with blue light once again and I closed them silently.
'Now, what's gonna happen?'
I opened my eyes expecting chaos or something but what I saw surprised me.
"I'm sorry, I will leave this group. I'm not strong enough and I was a fool."
What I saw was Nith was on the left bowing to Syrus and saying he was going to leave their group. I was about to say something, but stopped myself after seeing his expression.
'Oh, he looks better now.'
Nith looked horrible but his eyed shined with determination.
Soon after, he approached me and bowed down.
"I'm also going to apologize to you. I'm sorry for trying to scam you."
I nodded slightly.
'Second chance.'
"Practice more to become a proper swordsman."
He nodded and left the building.
"You!"
Syrus took my collar and was about to punch me but hesitated.
I looked at him with pity.
"Damn it."
He quickly ran out of the building probably to go after Nith.
Now there was only Alius and I here.
"Uh, I don't know how to say this. I should have been ho-. No, I'm sorry for trying to scam you. You even gifted me a monthly membership, and all I did was try to steal your money."
Alius bowed deeply and stayed there for a while.
"Lift up your head."
He lifted his head slowly and shook slightly and his eyes widened.
I was grinning at him.
"I still need a guide don't I? We haven't even been to every big building yet."
His mouth opened slightly and didn't close quickly.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think I deserve to. Think of it as my punishment."
He firmly refused and shook his head.
*Flick!*
"Ah."
Alius held his forehead seeming to be in a little pain.
'Hoho~, head flicks still work here?'
"Don't worry about it. Think of it as repaying me for what you've done. I'm not letting you off scott free."
And if I thought of what I gained, this was a great thing.
'I confirmed the effectiveness of mana breathing(D+), I can even try to learn convenience magic. I hope.'
I actually wasn't confident that it was possible. After all I didn't even know the basics.
"Alright, I'll continue the tour. There are three main buildings left. Let's go to the cafe to relax a little."
I nodded and followed his lead.
Soon we arrived at one of the bigger buildings.
"This is probably the third biggest after the hotel and stream room."
When we entered it looked like your average cafe.
'There are also people playing board games."
"I'm gonna order some oolong tea, what do you want?"
Alius walked to the reception and turned around.
"Uh, I guess I'll order ice tea."
A man in an apron took the order and told us to wait a few minutes.
"Why are there wait times? Couldn't someone just use magic?"
I asked while sitting down.
Alius sighed lightly.
"It's made for people who want to relax or feel like they're back on their home world. For example this place."
He pointed towards a screen you could order from.
"Because you're from earth this place looks like a cafe from earth."
I scratched my head.
"So, is it like illusion magic?"
Alius smiled slightly at the question.
"No, it's near perfect teleportation. The only one from my world that realized this was our heavenly demon."
'Heavenly demon..'
My eyes widened slightly.
"Heavenly demon, is he the strongest in your world?"
Alius nodded looking a little sad.
"Is something wrong?"
He shook his head.
"No, it's just that he's the reason I'm even a constellation."
'What? Who is he?!'
My eyes widened and I leaned forward.
"Here's your order. Do you want a board game?"
A woman put a oolong tea and iced tea on the table.
'She's pretty strong I guess. About A rank.'
I looked towards the woman then turned to Alius.
"So, do you know what chess is?"
I asked curious.
Alius shook his head.
"Hmm, no, I have heard of it but don't know how to play. I wanna try."
I nodded and the woman summoned a chess board and a box of pieces.
"That will be 150 coins."
Alius quickly put his hand up.
"I'll pay."
I didn't try to stop him and simply let it happen.
"Thanks."
"No problem, I need to pay my debt."
"Anyway who is your heavenly demon?"
I asked, taking a sip of my iced tea with expectant eyes.
'Oh, this tastes good.'
It was sweet and cooled me down.
"He's a genius. He somehow unified the entire murim at the age of twenty."
' Before becoming a constellation he was already that powerful? Holy cows. If I fought him back then, would I win?'
Before becoming a constellation myself I was considered the strongest but I still lost to my friends.
"He traveled the world to find reclusive masters and beat them all. He even made a tournament where he fought about twenty martial masters."
Against someone who had one against twenty masters.
I doubted I would have been able to win.
'Maybe with the power of friendship or something.'
"And after three more years he became the first constellation of our murim. It's very bizarre saying it out loud."
I nodded, listening intensely.
"After he reached the peak he became bored. He tried many different martial arts and weapons but quickly stopped because it was too easy."
My brain started heating up a little. I took a light sip of my ice tea.
What I was being told was the story of a universal genius in martial arts so I needed to keep my head cool.
"Then, did he master them all? Was he that much of a genius?!"
Alius sighed heavily and shook his head.
"You see, there was no one who had reached the peak of anything but the sword and fist. The heavenly demon had to be the pioneer, and he succeeded. In only twenty years."
I was amazed beyond belief. The fact that one person reached the peak of so many things, and in twenty years at that.
"Then, he got bored again. Then he realized that there was this place. The star palace. He hesitated to ascend after realizing that murim was too weak."
I realized where this was going and asked.
"He decided to take in disciples?"
Alius nodded.
"He took in four disciples. Me, Nith, Syrus and Guiying. After about twenty years we became constellations. Quite a ridiculous story."
I nodded absentmindedly taking a sip of my now empty cup of iced tea.
'Dang, I drank it all.'
I needed time to process this new information so I decided to distract myself.
"Oh, now that I think about it. Should I teach you chess?"
Alius nodded and the a small lesson began.
"You have the pawns, bishops, horses, rooks queen and king. They all move differently and the goal is to kill the king."
I explained everything about the game rules and Alius listened.
"Wow, what a game. You sacrifice pieces like they're nothing just to kill the king."
Alius looked surprised and we played a game.
Actually, we played like twenty.
"Huh, I lost again. Anyway it's getting late."
I was nodded and looked towards a window.
'The sky is darkening.'
"Let's go to the stream room now."
'If I try to guess what it is, then it's probably where constellations watched awakened from.'
I once hated constellations because of their lack of action, but now I think I understand them better.
The building was big and had multiple screens showing a few live streams.
'Most are in a dungeon. There are a few that are inside houses or even cooking.'
"Oh, that's a famous cook that makes delicious food that gives temporary stat buffs."
I was amazed and entered the building while looking at the screen.
"This is similar to the playroom in a way. You can go into a room and search for a stream. And you can send messages. By the way to send a message it costs five coins."
I nodded and asked a question.
"What is the money conversion from coins to items?"
Alius thought about it for a while and answered.
"Let's just say bread costs ten coins and a drink costs twenty five to fifty. It's not very accurate but what can you do. The system calculates that for us so don't bother."
I nodded and entered a room.
'There wasn't a reception desk.'
Inside the room was a couple seats and a screen.
[Welcome to the stream room!]
'Oh.'
I was slightly taken aback by the message but Alius quickly explained.
"Not many places have full system support, but here it's different."
[In the stream room you can watch other worlds go against towers, dungeons and many more things!]
[Here is a general tutorial on how to watch a stream]
Either enter in a world ID or simply look through recommendations!
You can also choose filters and genres chosen by the streamer!
'What?'
I silently looked at the screen in front of me.
'Is it different depending on the world?'
I quickly checked the genres and filters.
[Filters and genres]
Most popular to least
World type: Modern earth, Murim, Tower fantasy, Reality game, click to expand...
Genres: Intense, casual life, mysterious, click to expand...
World settings: Choose to stream, Unknown stream, No status window, Click to expand....
World setting: Preventing the end, After the end, Real life game, click to expand...
"Oh, this one is my favorite."
Alius quickly scrolled down and clicked on a world setting.
[Only one system window]
"As it's name implies, only one person has a system window."
I sighed and closed my eyes.
Alius looked at me confused.
"These bastards, that's an invasion of privacy."
I wanted to yell. But I knew I was still weak. Even now, I didn't know if I was being watched.
'It's a logical assumption. They are already playing with lives. What is a couple million more to them.'
I sighed and my eyes widened slightly.
"Oh, that's."
I naturally clicked on the screen.
What appeared in front of me separated by a screen, eight people sat by a campfire.
They all had different clothes and half were sleeping.
"Oh, is that your preference? Hmm, after the en-"
Alius quickly shut up after seeing me.
I was probably making a sad expression.
But I felt happy, like I won the lottery and I felt lonely.
"That's my previous world. ID 16379. They're okay."
Alius didn't respond and just looked at the screen.
We continued watching for a long time.
A man with yellow eyes continued to heat up the campfire when it died down.
Another man showed the rest of the group a fish that's been shot by a bow.
Next to him was another man holding a spear with a fish at the tip.
Behind them all someone sighed while several fish floated behind her.
Everyone looked shocked.
The person with the floating fish grinned and everyone started cooking.
Then they started talking quietly as to not wake up the few that were sleeping.
There was no volume, but I felt like I could hear what they were saying.
'I wonder if there's a way to go back?'
After a few more hours Alius finally said something.
"Eh, I know your having your moment and everything, but it's getting very late."
I nodded my head and got off my chair.
"Yeah, let's jus-"
I noticed a small screen on the chair.
I had been too engrossed in watching that I didn't notice.
"Hey, what's that for?"
Alius who was very ready to leave explained quickly.
"It's a donation button and chat screen. Although that can be changed in the settings."
I looked at the screen silently for a while before walking over to it.
[Send a message?]
Type here..
Cost: 0 coins
[You do not have an alias!]
[Your name will show up as: anonymous constellation 16379]
I sighed lightly and typed a message.
[You have sent a message!]
[You have used: 100 coins!]
Then I left the stream room feeling slightly relieved.
"So where is the last room?"
Alius who was waiting pointed towards a big hotel.
"It's right there. I personally recommend getting a body there."
I was momentarily confused but remembered that I was basically a ghost right now.
"Yeah, I'll do that."
We went in and got a room at the reception desk.
'They seem decently powerful.'
I entered my room and it was your standard hotel room.
*Plop!*
I jumped on my bed and quickly fell asleep.
It was a peaceful sleep, and my first night at the star castle.
*******
[Ding!]
[The anonymous constellation 16379 has sent a message: Continue living on, and take care of the saint for me.]
The message was sent to a yellow eyed man.
"Quint?"