“Alright, from now on, memorize this incantation completely. Once you’ve memorized it, you must burn the paper. And under no circumstances should you reveal it to anyone, not even to your younger brother, Rick Lunai.”
“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”
Iris, who had just taken control of her thumb and index finger, lifted the paper with a determined look in her eyes and stared at it intensely.
In just 30 minutes, she burned the paper.
What the hell?
She already memorized it?
Don’t tell me she has a bonus skill along with a genius-level intellect.
Even players using cheat engines wouldn’t go this far since it would make the game boring.
Just how good were her dice rolls?
“I’ve memorized everything. However, theoretically, if I use this Moonlight Divine Art mana cultivation method, most of the mana I’ve accumulated so far with the Rising Sun Aura Art will dissipate. Is that really okay?”
If you don’t want that, you can still revoke the Star Contract.
I’m not the type to punish anyone, so I won’t blame you if you seek another celestial being.
“No, I can’t do that. I’ve already received information about my younger sister and obtained the Ascending Mana Cultivation Method. Canceling the Star Contract at this point is out of the question. I don’t want to be that kind of shameless person. I just wanted to confirm whether I truly understood the incantation for the Moonlight Divine Art correctly.”
That’s fine.
Initially, your total mana will be reduced to one-tenth, but if you train diligently, it will eventually become three times what it is now.
However, since you’ll be abandoning your previous sword techniques to learn a new martial art, you should focus on strengthening your leg muscles.
Train in squats while practicing the Moonlight Divine Art.
Also, this technique is most effective when performed under moonlight, so it would be best to switch your sleeping schedule.
Lastly, your tunic might interfere with the flow of mana, so take it off.
“Understood!”
With a firm response, Iris took off her clothes and started doing squats in her underwear.
As the moonlight illuminated her bare skin, making it glow like white jade, I felt a sense of awe that went beyond mere sexual excitement.
Some might think I had a lewd intention behind making her strip, but the fact was that her enchanted tunic, which contained protective magic, could disrupt the energy circulation of the Moonlight Divine Art.
Besides, the first line of the Moonlight Divine Art skill book clearly stated that exposure to moonlight increased the effectiveness of the technique.
While I absentmindedly watched Iris perform squats from a third-person perspective, at some point, a faint glow began to appear on her forehead.
That glow was proof that she had successfully circulated her mana using the Moonlight Divine Art.
I was utterly shocked.
She hadn’t even been guided by a master who had mastered the technique to perfection.
She simply memorized the incantation, and in less than a few hours, she had already achieved this much progress?
This wasn’t just genius-level talent.
It was monstrous.
When I played Pantheon of the Stars as a game, I thought of Iris as an overpowered character that made the game too easy when picked.
But now that I was witnessing her monstrous talent firsthand, I finally understood why so many celestial beings coveted her.
This… this might actually make reaching the ending easier than I expected.
“You heard the news, right? Lady Iris’s magic rank has dropped by three levels.”
“What? Seriously? Maybe the magic measurement device is broken?”
“I also heard she fell asleep in class.”
“No way, that can’t be true. Oh, now that you mention it, I did notice that she skipped sword training.”
“What? You mean that sword training? The one supervised by Instructor Kate, her mentor? If she skipped that, then isn’t she seriously sick or something?”
“I heard rumors that she made a contract with some shady celestial being and got her mana and life force drained as an offering. At first, I thought it was just slander made up by people trying to bring her down, but… something’s definitely wrong with her. Even the professors seem to be keeping an eye on her.”
One advantage of being an insignificant recluse with bottom-rank grades was that I could lay in the grass, eavesdrop on students’ conversations, and no one would care.
My grades were so terrible that even the professors had given up on me.
They didn’t even force me to attend classes, so I was free all day.
But Iris was different.
She was a rising star at Pantheon Academy, drawing the attention of not only the professors but also the celestial beings themselves.
Skipping classes at her own will was practically impossible.
Ideally, I wanted her to focus solely on mastering Moonlight Divine Art and Moonlit Step until she stabilized her progress, but unfortunately, she still had to take a few required courses.
But there was no way she could properly attend class.
Not only had she spent the entire night doing squats, but she was also undergoing the process of converting the Yang mana she had accumulated into Yin mana.
No matter how much of a genius she was, unless she had transcended human limits and become a celestial being, she wouldn’t be able to overcome the exhaustion from sleep deprivation.
As a result, rumors spread that Iris had made a contract with a shady celestial being and was being exploited.
But I didn’t feel the need to panic.
Once Moonlight Divine Art reaches even a minor level of mastery, all those rumors will disappear.
Given Iris’s talent, the moment she breaks through a certain threshold, she’ll experience explosive growth.
So the real concern isn’t Iris—it’s me.
I believed in Iris’s genius and resilience.
But me?
I had all my attributes at F rank, and my mental fortitude wasn’t great either.
Every time I overheard someone calling me a parasite clinging to the academy despite being a perpetual loser, I felt the urge to jump into the Han River and end it all.
The only thing I was counting on was the karma trickle-down effect—the moment Iris became strong enough to be dispatched to another dimension, I’d be able to reap some benefits.
The problem was whether I could last in Pantheon Academy without getting expelled before that happened.
To be fair, Pantheon Academy wasn’t like a university on Earth, where students got expelled just for bad grades.
Even if a student’s grades were low, as long as they managed to form a contract with a weak celestial being, they could still secure a future by working as academy staff.
In short, every lesson at Pantheon Academy was a desperate struggle to catch the eye of a celestial being.
They weren’t running around the multiverse collecting stigma holders just because they were charitable.
‘Fuck, but I can’t even do a self-contract… Wait. Who says I can’t do a self-contract?’
Lying in the grass, lost in thought, I suddenly had an epiphany and shot up from the ground.
I, Kim Seonghoon, and the celestial being “Nameless God 1602” were like an on-off switch that couldn’t exist at the same time.
When I was conscious, Nameless God 1602 remained as a dead star, invisible even to the high-ranking celestials.
That was the only reason I had survived despite forcefully making a contract with Iris, completely bypassing the karma auction rule that celestials followed when multiple beings wanted the same contractor.
I could say with confidence—if not for this unique trait, I would have been annihilated by the collective wrath of the celestial community.
But if I properly utilized this on-off nature.
Wouldn’t it be possible for Kim Seonghoon to contract with Nameless God 1602?
Yeah.
This was worth testing at the next Pantheon Induction Ceremony.
Just as I was about to leave, a student with slicked-back hair, exuding a cocky and slightly delinquent aura, grabbed my shoulder.
“Hey, our perpetual loser sure has it easy. Skipping all classes and just lying around like this. Don’t you feel the least bit sorry for the other students? Because of useless trash like you, our entire cohort’s reputation is suffering!”
“Why should I feel sorry? Thanks to me holding down the bottom rank, everyone’s grades get pushed up. And you, my friend, should be grateful. You barely dodged the 200s because of me, didn’t you? Zeke Wolftail, rank 199.”
“You little shit, where do you get off saying my full name?! You want me to rip that mouth of yours apart—”
“Hold it right there! What do you think you’re doing?”
Zeke Wolftail.
In the original scenario, he was nothing more than a delinquent Extra A—one of those throwaway characters who picked a fight with the male protagonist on the first day and got completely wrecked.
But for me, Pantheon Academy’s perpetual bottom-ranker, even a guy like this radiated mid-boss-level intimidation.
Still, I didn’t flinch.
Because using my celestial sight, I already knew—Iris was nearby.
And activating the consciousness of Nameless God 1602 meant that Kim Seonghoon, the human, would essentially fall into a comatose state.
Bingo.
This was it.
Back in college, I once played nylon patient against a luxury sedan that made an illegal left turn, and I squeezed out enough settlement money to pay my tuition.
Zeke Wolftail… you just picked the wrong guy to mess with.