Upon opening the constellation, a picture unfolded. It was the sign of Aquarius. A water bearer for the 1-star constellation. It only had six stars, so it wasn't a perfect match, but it looked like Aquarius. A thought flashed through his mind.

'Isn't this a bit lazy?'

To present the constellations in the order they appear in horoscopes, of all things. The Gold Maker content itself was designed to be easily understood from a human perspective, so he didn't have any major complaints, but he couldn't help a flicker of reasonable suspicion. Of course, that wasn't a major issue when it came to checking the constellation's effects.

'As long as the options are good, who cares?'

Kim Buja was the type of person who would skip every skippable part of a game's story, even one made with a budget of 100 million. While other players held community protests over a main story that changed overnight or had nonsensical plot holes, he was busy killing one more monster. In cruder terms, he was a skip-fiend.

To him, whether something made sense or if the content was lazy didn't matter. Only the reward. He judged everything by its reward.

In that sense, the constellation was content that was certainly worth the three weeks he had invested.

[Constellation]

▶ Currently Activated Constellation: 1-Star

▶ Constellation Activation Effect

→ 1-Star: HP Recovery +1 / MP Recovery +1 / (★)Dungeon Gold Acquired +1% / (★)Dungeon High-Grade Item Drop Rate +1% / (★)Dungeon All Stats +1 / 'VIP 1' Skill Level +1

"Wow."

An exclamation escaped him. Six options. Looking at them one by one, the only truly useful option was the last one: 'VIP 1' Skill Level. But that one option alone made the constellation worth it.

The 'VIP 1' skill, Wait for Free Gold, currently cost 210 gold to level up. He was essentially getting that for free. Furthermore, even though the skill was now level 21 due to the constellation effect, the cost to level it up was still 210 gold. In other words, it was a complete bonus that didn't affect the existing level-up costs.

Of course, it sounded grand, but it just meant he got one extra gold per day. For now. But what about over time?

As time piled up, so would the level of Wait for Free Gold. Traits would unlock, and if another one was added that could multiply the daily gold like Trait (1)…

'This is insane.'

The constellation was a must-do content. Even right now, didn't he have a 14% chance to get an extra three gold every day?

'Is there a way to raise it further?'

The other options weren't essential, but the HP and MP recovery would be helpful in subtle ways, and the other three options were decent for 1-star dungeons. Most importantly, these were the options for a mere 1-star constellation.

▶ Owned Constellations (1-Star)

★(N): HP Recovery 1

★(R): MP Recovery 1

★(E): (★)Dungeon Gold Acquired 1

★(U): (★)Dungeon High-Grade Item Drop Rate 1

★(S): (★)Dungeon All Stats +1

★(L): 'VIP 1' Skill Level 1

Upon activation, the options for each grade of star were also unlocked. As he progressed to 2-star and 3-star, options more helpful in combat might appear, and those could be obtained just by diligently clearing dungeons, not by investing anything.

'It would be nice if I could use gold, though.'

The words slipped out of his mouth as he had already grown accustomed to the Gold Maker system. He quickly took them back. Specs that could be raised through effort without spending gold were also good.

What would be the point of leveling up Wait for Free Gold for free if it cost gold to do so? More than that, he was relieved, as this seemed to confirm that the Gold Maker was a class that grew through both dungeon hunting and idle progression.

'Content that considers both hunting and idling.'

Could there be a more perfect class that fit the term 'growth-type'? For a moment, he thought he might have cleared dungeons more diligently if he had activated it sooner.

'Probably not, right?'

The thought vanished soon after.

At most, he would have just run Legendary-grade dungeons more diligently. And he probably would have ended up with the same attitude he had now, thinking 'if it drops, it drops; if not, whatever,' while looking at the abysmally low drop rate of the constellation.

In any case, it wasn't bad. No, it was great. It wasn't just that the constellation was unlocked, giving him a slight stat boost from 1-star, tutorial-level dungeons; a special benefit unique to the Gold Maker had been added.

[You have achieved 'Achievement: Constellation Unlocked (N)'.]

[You have achieved 'Achievement: A Grand Nebula (L)'.]

[The 4th trait of 'Gold Maker' has been activated.]

He could confirm it by going into his status window and clicking on the Gold Maker class.

[Gold Maker]

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Classification: Growth

▷ A class that grows through the special stat 'Gold Power'.

▷ Stat distribution is sealed due to the special stat 'Gold Power'.

▷ Due to the (L)Class effect, only skills exclusive to 'Gold Maker' can be learned.

▷ You can enter activated constellation dungeons without level restrictions.

That was the greatest benefit Kim Buja gained from activating the constellation.

5.

What would happen if a player who had moved on to higher-level dungeons could enter previous ones? For a system that applied a rare degree of freedom to most things, it was a strangely restrictive element that caused many players to complain. Even now, nearly six years since dungeons first appeared, it was still a controversial issue.

—Why are dungeons level-restricted?

—So high-level players don't go into low-level dungeons to mess with and slaughter them?

—Are you an idiot? Rankers are living weapons who can kill people in reality if they want to. Why would they bother dragging someone into a dungeon to kill them? Even now, you can just beat someone to the brink of death where no one's watching, then have a player of the same level take them into a dungeon, and they'll be gone without a trace.

The safety reason was unconvincing, considering there were no stat restrictions for players in the real world. The most plausible theory people accepted was for balance.

—When you clear a dungeon for the first time, you get stats. Maybe they want to divide dungeons by skill level? If any old person could just level up and clear low-tier Legendary dungeons, it would completely break the balance. Not that Legendary dungeons are that easy to clear just because your level is high, anyway.

The reality was that even a player with poor skills could easily defeat a monster 20 levels lower. Even Legendary-grade dungeons could be safely cleared if you were 30 levels higher. That was the logic behind the restriction. Of course, it wasn't perfect.

—What's the point of restricting that?

—The top rankers are gonna be the top rankers no matter what.

—They give out items through events, so why only dungeons?

In any case, the advantages of being able to enter lower-level dungeons even after exceeding the level cap were numerous enough for a layman to count on more than ten fingers.

'For one, I could get filthy rich just by offering power-leveling services for Special and Legendary dungeons.'

That wasn't an option for him, though. Aside from being able to collect constellations more comfortably and at his own pace, all the benefits were directly related to money, so it didn't really resonate with him. It might be different if he could take other over-leveled players with him, but that option wasn't included.

More important than that was the fact that he had finished the constellation content just in time.

'I'll fill this out slowly.'

His next plans were piling up. Without getting too immersed in the reward, he broke away and checked his current gold.

▶ Gold Owned: 240G

The plan had been to raise the level of Wait for Free Gold to 20 and save about 1,000 more gold. But since he had only been running Normal-grade dungeons during that time, he had barely managed to save 240 gold. If Today's Mission hadn't fortunately given him gold, he might have struggled to even get that much.

[Wait for Free Gold]

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Classification: Passive

▶ Level: 20(+1)

▷ Generates 20(+1) Gold every day at 24:00.

▷ You can spend 200 Gold to level up.

▷ You can spend 2,000 Gold to unlock Trait (2) at Level 20.

▷ Due to Gold Power (14), all 'Gold Maker' content level-up costs are discounted by 14%.

▷ Level increased by 1 due to the constellation effect.

▷ Trait (1): The Sweet Taste of Patience

→ (Gold Power)% chance to triple the amount of gold acquired.

In this situation, unlocking the second trait was an impossible dream. You can't live life following every plan perfectly. You just have to make do with what you have and adapt on the spot. Still, the 21 gold coming in every day would be quite useful on the Gold Mission, where he would be staying for at least a week.

"I'll be back," he said.

"The qualifiers will likely start around early or mid-December," Seora replied.

"Okay, I'll try my best to be back before then."

Jeong Seora knew that when Kim Buja left for a quest, it took quite a long time, unlike a dungeon, so she added a word of caution. It wasn't that she wanted to pressure him; as the vice-master, she knew how crucial he was to the guild's leap forward, so the words came out on their own. She smiled brightly and offered a final farewell.

"As I always say, if by any chance I don't come back…"

"…Yes, I'll tell them you died in a dungeon. Even if no one believes it."

Even if it was a phrase that was nothing more than a morning greeting for players who ran dungeons every day, she couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat. He gently patted her shoulder, acknowledging the bittersweet moment, and then pulled her into a hug. He felt her warmth in his arms, without any resistance. She hugged him back and patted his back.

"Come back alive."

"I will."

"Just make sure you focus on rebuilding the Empire as your main quest," she said.

"Excuse me?"

"And helping the princess is a side quest. Got it?"

A smirk played on his lips. "Are you jealous?"

"You know that world is just a game to me, even if it isn't to you, right? It would be sad if my boyfriend abandoned me to become completely engrossed in a game character day and night."

"That's a very compelling point."

He nodded at her serious reply. The words, 'the people who live there are also living people,' didn't come easily. As she said, from her perspective, it was no different from a game. Besides, why would he argue?

"You're the only one for me."

The princess was certainly beautiful. Her figure had a charm that could captivate a man, making it hard to treat her as a simple game character. But that was all. He wasn't enough of a womanizer to actively pursue a new woman in another world.

"Well then, I'll be off."

'Mwah!'

[Activating Gold Mission Chapter 1-3 'Battle'.]

With her kiss—a gift of love and a brand on his conscience—still warm on his cheek, Kim Buja's vision went black.

* * *

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