Chapter 595

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 595: The Great Exploration (3)

A Myth Map that can only be used if one possesses a myth.

Realizing this fact, Kejen stared blankly back and forth between Yeongwoo and the map.

-Wait… so this was a map that only activates if I’m the owner of a myth?

“Isn’t that obvious? Like you said, even if someone without a myth finds another myth using this map, there’d be nothing they could actually do with it.”

-W-Well, that’s true, but…

Disappointment.

The emotion reflected on Kejen’s face was disappointment.

Disappointment that he had been keeping an item far beyond his station all this time.

Disappointment that such items even existed in the first place.

“Why that expression? In the end, it still found its rightful owner.”

-Isn’t that exactly the problem? So I was basically holding onto this all this time just to benefit someone else?

“At least it saved your life. And besides…”

-And besides? What now?

“I haven’t killed you even after taking the item.”

-……!

“Honestly, if I were a real villain, I’d have gotten rid of you by now since you’re useless to me.”

Kejen replied with a dejected face.

-That’s true, but still.

“So don’t feel too wronged. And if you want to…”

Yeongwoo’s gaze shifted beyond the ceiling of the hideout, toward space.

-If I want to, what?

“I’ll let you take part in the Great Exploration for myths.”

-…What?

“I’m saying I’ll let you live on the Earthship.”

The Earthship.

A free planet-vessel destined to wander the entire universe in search of the myths pointed to by the ‘Great Exploration’.

In that sense, anyone living on the Earthship would essentially be participating in the Great Exploration as well.

“It’s not mandatory. If you want, you can keep living the way you used to. After all, your base is in the Black Sector.”

Even so, if he wanted to board the Earthship, Yeongwoo was willing to make room.

After all, thanks to Kejen, he had obtained this precious map.

Even if unintentional, Kejen had effectively become a great benefactor to Yeongwoo.

“I’m not exaggerating when I say I owe you a debt money can’t repay. So I’ll give you special treatment.”

-Special treatment? Like you won’t point a sword at me anymore?

“That’s hard to promise. But instead, I won’t charge you rent.”

Free lodging.

From Yeongwoo’s perspective, it was an extremely generous offer, but Kejen’s reaction was lukewarm.

-Well… you’re interesting, I’ll give you that, but you live far too dangerously. That makes the Earthship dangerous too.

“But we can run away if things go south. That seems better than the Black Sector, where you’re bound to be caught someday.”

-That’s only true once your planet-ship has developed enough. Right now, it can’t compare to the Black Sector. And you’re planning to search for myths, right?

“That’s right.”

-Then the ones chasing you will also be myth owners. How can you say that place is safe?

“…I suppose you’re right.”

Yeongwoo couldn’t refute that.

In ordinary cases, he could be confident in the planet-ship’s escape capabilities, but whether it could survive against myths was still unknown.

“So you’re going to keep living in this insane place?”

-That’s not an option either. The Kardal royal family is actively hunting me right now.

Then Kejen followed Yeongwoo’s gaze beyond the ceiling.

-I’ll be leaving here for a while too. But that doesn’t mean I’ll go to the Earthship.

“Then where will you go?”

-I’ll keep doing what I’ve always done as a highwayman. I have my own thief’s journey.

Still unwilling to lose planetary residency rights, he added an afterthought.

-But someday, I’ll come find you again. So save me a spot.

“Well… there’s plenty of space for now. I promise I’ll do that, at least for the time being.”

Yeongwoo nodded, then turned his gaze back to the Myth Map.

The search screen was still sweeping across the universe in search of a ‘reference point’.

“Are you kidding me… it’s still moving?”

-The universe is vast. If this map hadn’t reacted to your myth… we’d have been completely screwed.

Then, finally—

Sssaat……!

The search screen that everyone had been watching began to flicker.

-Oh? Did it finally get close?

No sooner had Kejen finished speaking than the frantically moving search screen stopped at a single point.

Ssaat!

And it was a location where red, blue, and white converged.

“Hey, that’s obviously three myths, isn’t it?”

As Yeongwoo glanced at the myths he possessed, Jeonggu stepped closer to the map and blinked.

“The red one is probably the Bastard… then what are the blue and white ones?”

“The white one should be the Token of Salvation. Even the tooltip screams pure good-alignment.”

「Token of Salvation」 – Mythic Currency

【Cloak of Light】

| Gain 20% damage reduction against evil-aligned entities.

【Chorus of Virtue】

| By using this token as collateral, you may borrow each of the following planets’ ultimate weapons once:

— Doatel, Delmir, Shuaarel

【Protection of the Shelbir Royal Family】

| This token serves as a royal insignia substitute.

“Then the blue one is Aratubank?”

Jeonggu glanced at the intimidating-looking mythic shield.

Yeongwoo nodded.

“Myths are color-coded by type. Their actual appearance doesn’t matter.”

“Then…….”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“The blue one seems to be defense-oriented.”

As Yeongwoo said that, Amana pointed to another part of the map.

-Then this means some things can only be known by meeting them directly.

She was pointing to the closest myth to their current location.

A bright, purple-hued dot.

Though it looked close, the actual distance would be astronomical.

“Purple… that’s hard to guess.”

Yeongwoo scratched his cheek.

Still, thanks to having three myths already, they had secured quite a bit of information from the start.

“For now, we should look at this together with Mr. Mantero. He’ll understand the map better than I do.”

As the royal chief navigator, he must have been trained in cosmic structures.

More importantly, he might be able to infer why black holes were marked on the Myth Map.

“So now everything’s settled except selling the Selulite, right?”

Yeongwoo scanned the room, then raised his wrist and projected his watch.

Paaat!

“Let’s wait exactly ten more minutes. If no buyer shows up by then, we escape immediately.”

Amana frowned.

-10 minutes……? Isn’t that too harsh?

“What’s harsh about it? I already think I’ve done my part by saving your life. Selling the Selulite is purely goodwill.”

Then, as if he’d just remembered something, Yeongwoo asked.

“Oh, by the way, what did you come here on?”

-…What do you mean?

“I mean it literally. What did you ride here? A scrap flying boat?”

Amana tilted her head, then stiffened all the feathers on her body.

-We came on a guardian-exclusive vessel of the Sutral Planet.

“That’s good news.”

Muttering meaningfully, Yeongwoo immediately took out the crescent blade he had seized from the Seal Pursuer.

Srrrk.

「Twin Stars」 - Kardal Crescent Blade

【Kardal Formation efficiency +30%.】

【Physical damage +10%.】

【Strength +5%.】

“Ah, figures it’s royal equipment.”

A unique-grade item boldly bearing the royal family’s name.

Now that Yeongwoo had become a clan head himself, it was hard not to envy the ability to create items with one’s own family grade.

‘Will I ever be able to make equipment with a “Renaissance” grade attached to it?’

To engrave a family name as a natural grade without even a crafted-item mark would require enormous prestige.

From Yeongwoo’s experience, only royal families could use formatting identical to natural grades.

Even Chairman’s conglomerate ‘Dogo’ had crafting marks on its exclusive equipment.

「Cosmic Etiquette」 - ◇ Dogo Phase Armor

【20% increase in damage to government officials.】

【20% resistance to abilities】

【Dogo】

‘So for ordinary families, even making equipment itself must be difficult.’

Still gazing at 「Twin Stars」 with envy, Yeongwoo registered the weapon in the weapon codex.

Paaaat!

‘Still, +5% strength and +10% physical damage is better than expected.’

The Kardal Formation efficiency likely referred to the ritual he’d seen during the fight with the Jade Seal Pursuer.

In short, an effect completely useless to Yeongwoo right now.

And flipping that around meant that families powerful enough to create unique equipment could also control its effects to some extent.

‘Just how strong does a family have to be to pull that off? And how do royal families even get made?’

While Yeongwoo was lost in thought, Amana poked his arm.

-Hey.

“What is it?”

-Didn’t you get some kind of contact just now?

“Contact?”

Only then did Yeongwoo realize that the entry ticket in his pocket was vibrating.

“What the—don’t tell me a trade request actually came in?”

He hurriedly pulled out the ticket, and a holographic message appeared in midair.

「There is a buyer proposal for 1 unit of Selulite.」

“Buyer proposal?”

As Yeongwoo’s eyebrow twitched, Kejen stepped forward with a troubled expression.

-A buyer proposal, not a purchase request… that only means one thing.

“One thing? What is it?”

-Reverse trade.

“Reverse trade……?”

-You do business in the buyer’s marketplace.

“Then wouldn’t we be forced to follow the buyer’s rules?”

-Exactly. If they chose hide-and-seek, the moment we enter, the Selulite would be transferred to them.

Up to this point, that was the villains’ assumption—when Amana slowly raised a hand.

-But isn’t there a chance they want an honest trade?

“Well. I wouldn’t count on that.”

-According to what I know, the accident rate in the Black Sector is 58%.

“…That doesn’t mean the honest trade rate is 42%, does it? And even if it were, the success rate would already be under 50%. Not even half.”

-…….

Still, unwilling to let go of this miraculous trade request, Amana opened and closed her beak repeatedly.

-If the buyer knows how Selulite is made, they wouldn’t do anything despicable.

“But you… already got scammed once, didn’t you?”

-That just means the probability of the next one being honest has increased.

“That’s….”

Yeongwoo started to say something, then closed his mouth.

In the end, the Selulite belonged to Amana.

If she truly wanted to proceed, there was no reason to stop her.

“What do you think?”

When Yeongwoo asked the local, Kejen, for his opinion, Kejen stroked his whiskers and paced the room.

-The chance they’re a scammer? Pretty high. But on the flip side, they might think we’re the scammers and proposed a reverse trade for that reason.

“So in the end, you don’t know. Do you at least know the typical buyer profile for Selulite?”

-That’s hard too. Selulite isn’t traded often.

And given its high utility, it was difficult to know what buyers intended to use it for.

-But where are we? The Black Sector. The odds of shady bastards showing up are obviously much higher.

Naturally, everyone’s gaze turned to Amana.

“So what do you want to do? Honestly, I think it’s probably a scam again.”

Amana crossed her arms and said firmly:

-I believe. That bad things don’t happen twice.

“Well, you probably stacked a lot of good karma, so who knows.”

But could good fortune enough to offset the evil karma of Jeong Yeongwoo and Kejen really appear?

Yeongwoo couldn’t be sure—but he also didn’t hesitate long.

“Screw it. Best case, we pocket a nice commission. Worst case, the Sutral Planet gets wiped out.”

With that, he swiped the hologram and accepted the offer.

“Let’s try a reverse trade. Just don’t regret it.”

As Yeongwoo gave his final warning, Amana met his gaze with confidence.

-When your head is full of evil, you imagine an evil future. Today, I shall impart you with a great lesson.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]