Not A Regressor - Chapter 394

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 394
Fate-Reversing Star (7)
To put it simply.
My grand plan to control Heukcheon’s power through the star’s conjunction ended in failure.
‘The magical power of my Lyra Constellation stigma won’t increase any further.’
To be precise, it did increase.
But the amount was woefully insufficient to control Heukcheon after its twelfth awakening.
‘If Heukcheon were so easy to control, it wouldn’t have become what it is now.’
While I couldn’t completely shake off the disappointment, it was an inevitable outcome when I thought about it rationally.
I placed my hand on the Lyra Constellation stigma carved above my left chest.
‘To completely control Heukcheon… I need to become a 12-Star.’
12-Star.
A realm that not a single awakened one had reached, despite countless appearing since the First Rift emerged.
Even the awakened ones called the Seven Stars, and even Cassia, who confidently held the top position in the Black Star Society, had yet to reach the 12-Star realm.
At this point, I couldn’t even be certain whether the 12-Star realm truly existed.
‘But it must.’
Each time a ‘Star’ increased, a semicircular mark was carved beside the stigma.
Beside my stigma, which already bore eleven marks, there was exactly one empty space remaining.
Not just I, but most awakened ones were convinced that the 12-Star realm existed.
It was simply that no one had ever reached it.
An uncharted realm that no awakened one, among countless as grains of sand, had ever ascended to.
The destination I had to reach was a virgin territory that no one had ever set foot upon.
‘Well, if I’m to be called the Fate-Reversing Star, I suppose I need to accomplish at least that much.’
After all, I couldn’t boast of being the world’s savior or a star that rewrites destiny after reaching a realm anyone could attain.
As I steeled my resolve with such thoughts.
[Why, why do you wear such a serious expression?]
Vega, carefully adjusting her dress, grasped my collar with an anxious look.
[D-did our… our conjunction not satisfy you?]
“Huh?”
Vega stood with her eyes downcast, shuffling her feet.
Only then did I realize I had been thoughtless toward her.
“It’s not that.”
[B-but didn’t you wear a disappointed expression!]
“No, it’s just…”
I felt cold sweat trickling down my spine as I hurriedly reassured Vega.
“It has nothing to do with you, Vega.”
[Then why did you make such an expression?]
“It’s because… the stigma’s power didn’t increase as much as I had hoped.”
[….]
Vega’s eyes narrowed.
[Are you only intertwining your body with me to cultivate the Star Mark?]
“That’s not it at all.”
[Hmph! Yet you wore such a disappointed expression just moments ago, did you not?]
“Well, that’s because….”
It took considerable time to appease Vega, who was thoroughly sulking.
Only after embracing her, patting her back, and exchanging several kisses did her anger begin to subside.
[Henceforth, when you perform the stellar union, think only of me—not of anything else.]
“I shall remember this well.”
Having somehow managed to soothe Vega’s wrath, Kwon O-jin exhaled a relieved sigh and brushed his chest.
[By the way.]
Vega glanced around, her voice dropping slightly as she spoke.
[The Milky Way Spring… has vanished.]
The spring that had glimmered with brilliant starlight was now entirely absorbed into the clouds of Heukcheon.
Kwon O-jin turned to observe Vega, who gazed down at the desiccated spring bed with a somewhat bitter expression.
“If the spring disappears, there won’t be some problem with the Star Palace or anything like that, will there?”
[Well… since I was born after Polaris, this is the first time I’ve seen the Milky Way Spring dry up, so I’m not entirely certain.]
Ah.
Right.
If Polaris had been alive since before the world’s destruction by Heukcheon, then witnessing the Milky Way Spring run dry would indeed be an unprecedented sight for Vega.
‘Could it be that the Star Palace is collapsing or something?’
Vague anxiety crept through me.
[There is no need for such concern. The Milky Way Spring exists in a space separate from the Star Palace itself.]
“A separate space?”
[Did you not walk here when you arrived?]
“Ah.”
Now that she mentioned it, that was true.
[This place itself may disappear… but the Star Palace shall remain unaffected.]
“That’s a relief.”
I nodded and gazed upon the dried spring bed.
‘It’s smaller than I thought….’
When the spring had brimmed with water, gazing upon it had felt like looking up at the Milky Way in the night sky—vast and awe-inspiring.
Now that every drop had evaporated, the Milky Way Spring appeared far narrower and more desolate than I had imagined.
‘Did she endure immeasurable time alone in such a place?’
As I recalled the image of the Constellation casting herself toward Heukcheon’s clouds, bitterness spread across my tongue.
[…Polaris.]
It seemed Vega harbored the same thoughts, for she murmured softly while gazing upon the desiccated spring.
“…We should head back soon.”
[Wait a moment.]
Vega walked to the center of the dried spring, to the place where Polaris had first stood.
[O star of Ursa Minor, who endured such anguish alone through the long ages.]
I pressed my palms together as if in prayer.
The radiant silver light flowing around Vega’s body dyed the withered spring with luminous silver.
The spring, which had been shriveled and desolate, now gleamed with dazzling silver radiance.
“Ah….”
A gasp escaped unbidden.
Kwon O-jin gazed at the silver light flooding the surroundings and swallowed hard.
‘So this is the Sacred Domain of Lyra Constellation.’
It was incomparable to the crude Sacred Domain I could manifest.
I bent down and placed my hand on the floor, which shimmered with brilliant silver light as if the metal itself had been melted and poured forth.
Crackle, crackle-crackle!
“Ugh!”
Fierce blue sparks erupted violently from merely touching it lightly.
[Touching it carelessly would be dangerous, even for you.]
Vega, having completed her Sacred Domain manifestation, walked slowly toward me.
“This is….”
[Yet how could I leave the place where Polaris last dwelled in such a withered state?]
This was a kind of reverence Vega was offering to Polaris.
I smiled faintly and took Vega’s hand.
The warmth flowing through my palm seemed to reveal the considerate heart of this woman.
Though called by the same title of Polaris, she possessed a tender heart capable of offering sincere mourning even for one with whom she shared no particular connection.
There was only one thing I could say to her.
“For something like that, you were just now engaged in quite the passionate stellar union….”
[Tch!]
Thwack!
Vega’s fist savagely struck my solar plexus.
“Gasp! Cough, cough!”
Had other couples witnessed this scene, they would surely have agreed in unison.
That I deserved the beating.

* * *
After absorbing the Star Mark of Ursa Minor, I emerged from the Star Palace with Vega.
“Are all the restrictions gone now?”
[A few remain, but they pose no issue in this ethereal form, I assure you.]
Perched atop my head in her ethereal state, Vega tugged at my hair like a charioteer commanding reins.
“Hey, what—”
[That disrespectful jest you made earlier keeps replaying in my mind.]
“Come on, I already apologized.”
The atmosphere had been so grave that I’d blurted out a joke without thinking.
[Unforgivable, utterly unforgivable.]
Vega’s anger hadn’t subsided; she continued yanking at my hair.
I swallowed hard and made my way home with her still perched on my head.
[By the way, what was that about meeting the Snake Master Constellation earlier?]
“Oh, that?”
On the way home, I recounted everything that had happened with Mobius to Vega, piece by piece.
After hearing the entire account, Vega—
[Unforgivable! Unforgivable!]
—yanked at my hair even more violently.
“I’m going to go bald at this rate, Goddess.”
[Hmph! A child as disobedient as you deserves to lose every strand!]
That’s a bit much.
[Did I not warn you to be cautious of Mobius above all else?]
“Well… I didn’t exactly seek out that encounter.”
Strictly speaking, I was the victim here.
[Sigh. Truly… a child I cannot take my eyes off for a single moment.]
Vega exhaled deeply and gently stroked the hair she’d just been tugging at so enthusiastically.
[Still, I’m relieved you’re unharmed.]
“I got lucky.”
Had I fought Mobius to the bitter end, I couldn’t have guaranteed the outcome.
‘Next time we meet, things will be different.’
Thinking of the power I’d gained, I opened the entrance door.
“Oh? You’re back sooner than expected?”
“Hm? Vega’s here too? Are all the restrictions lifted now?”
“We’ve been waiting for you.”
Inside, Isabella, Ha-eun, and Cassia welcomed me.
“Was everything alright at the Star Palace?”
“There were a few things, actually.”
I explained to the three women what had transpired at the Star Palace.
“So… you really were the Fate-Reversing Star?”
“That’s what they told me.”
“Hmm… with such a grandiose title attached to my name, it doesn’t feel like the Kwon O-jin I know.”
Ha-eun crossed her arms and looked me up and down.
“Well, don’t worry about it. It’s not like being called the Fate-Reversing Star comes with any extra benefits anyway.”
“So now all the Constellations know that you’re the master of Heukcheon, Kwon O-jin?”
[That is not the case.]
Vega shook her head at Isabella’s question.
[My child is known to be the Fate-Reversing Star, but the other Constellations only know the ‘Fate-Reversing Star’ as a regressor, nothing more.]
“Then we’ll need to keep the fact that you’re another master of Heukcheon hidden from the Constellations?”
[Perhaps… that would be wise. Even with my testimony, they all harbor resistance toward Heukcheon.]
Vega, who shared a deep bond with me, and Polaris, who could see the future, showed no great hostility toward the fact that I was the master of Heukcheon.
‘But the other Constellations would be different.’
The truth that I was the master of Heukcheon, just like the Heavenly Demon, had to remain hidden at all costs.
“Then, though it’s a bit early, shall I start preparing dinner?”
Despite gaining much from the Star Palace, not much time had actually passed.
“No, before that, there’s something I need to do first.”
“What might that be?”
I traced the eleventh stigma inscribed above my left chest and smiled wickedly.
Even with some of its power restricted, Heukcheon had completed its twelfth awakening.
The Lyra Constellation stigma had risen to the eleventh star.
And there was the newly acquired ability ‘Future Sight’ on top of that.
“When you gain something new, you have to test it out.”
I spoke with a somewhat excited expression.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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