I was currently standing with my exhausted body on the far side of the garden, where I was surrounded only by white lilies. As far as the eye could see, pale petals stretched across the ground, gently swaying with the night breeze. There was not a single tree in sight, leaving the area completely open to the sky above.
"What is one thousand minus seven?" I murmured, my voice low, almost absent-minded, as I stared at one of the white lilies, half-expecting it to suddenly turn red.
Looking up at the night sky, I felt my breath hitch. It was too beautiful, as if it had been torn straight out of a painting. Countless stars shimmered brightly, scattered across the heavens, while the full moon hung proudly among them, casting a soft silver glow that chased away the darkness.
"Now what am I supposed to do?" I muttered. "I can definitely feel a connection, but how do I meet the conditions?"
I kept my gaze fixed on the stars.
There was no doubt about it. The moment I had stepped outside, I felt a sudden pull deep within me, like a silent call resonating in my chest. The cosmos affinity was reacting. And when I stood fully beneath the moonlight, that sensation intensified, becoming clearer, stronger, as if something unseen was urging me to look up and understand.
I really wished Virgil had told me that something like this would happen.
I clicked my tongue in irritation.
An idea suddenly popped into my head.
I decided to focus on my mana core and try to call upon the cosmic energy, assuming that was what this strange force was called, and see if it would react. Closing my eyes, I turned my focus inward, searching carefully. I tried to grasp onto that faint sensation I felt from the stars, attempting to trace it back to its source.
But it was difficult.
Trying to find something when you didn't know where it was hidden, or even if it truly existed within you yet, felt like chasing smoke in the dark.
There was no success. No response. No reaction.
Even when I focused on the pull I felt from the stars, nothing happened.
"Hah…" I let out a breath. "Something is missing. I know it is… or at least I hope so. Being under the stars is probably one of the conditions, but what else is missing? I honestly don't know."
I began pacing around in small circles, my footsteps brushing through the lilies.
I didn't know much about stars in general, but I was familiar with some of the eighty-eight constellations. The twelve zodiac constellations, for example: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces. I also knew others like the Big Dipper, Orion, Lepus, and Andromeda.
This was all knowledge I had brought with me from Earth.
I used to read about stars for a period of time, not too short and not too long either. It wasn't really a hobby, since I wasn't particularly obsessed with stars themselves. I was more interested in space… and swords. Even so, during that time, I learned how to identify constellations in the night sky.
Normally, one would need a physical star map if they weren't familiar enough to recognize them by memory, but fortunately for me, I had a pretty good memory. I could still recall the shapes and patterns clearly.
I lifted my gaze again and began identifying them one by one.
I had already spotted Scorpius in the east, its stars forming a distinct J-shape that resembled a scorpion with its tail curled upward. To the northwest, a pair of balanced scales gleamed faintly.
Libra, for sure.
"Oh, and there's that damned snake," I thought. Or rather, the sea serpent, Hydra. On the western side, its body stretched unnaturally long across the sky, forming a winding, serpentine shape.
As I continued identifying them, I suddenly felt the connection with the stars intensify. The pull inside me grew stronger with each constellation I recognized, causing my eyes to widen in realization.
I guess that's it!
I most likely needed to identify all the constellations currently visible in the sky. Not all eighty-eight, of course. Only around ten to twenty could be seen in a single night.
With that plan in mind, I continued.
I identified Circinus, the Compass, in the south. Then Norma, the Carpenter's Square, in the southeast. Finally, I turned my attention northward.
Centaurus.
Its stars formed the shape of a man with the body of a horse, a centaur standing proudly in the heavens.
"There," I said softly. "Centaurus was the last one. Will something happen now?"
I waited, my heart pounding with anticipation.
But nothing happened.
Well, not exactly nothing. The connection grew even stronger, but that was it.
I frowned, confusion replacing the excitement on my face. "What now? Did I not identify all the constellations?"
There was no way I had missed any. I retraced the sky with my eyes, carefully scanning each section, mentally listing everything I had already identified.
Still nothing.
"What am I missing…?" I muttered, pacing back and forth.
Then it hit me.
The empty space between the constellations. The stars there weren't arranged in a way that immediately formed a recognizable constellation. There simply didn't seem to be enough of them.
But that was when I realized something important.
I didn't actually know all eighty-eight constellations.
Some of them were small. Some required only four or five stars. And more importantly—Some constellations shared the same stars.
Who said there couldn't be another constellation hidden in that empty space?
I was foolish to think that just because I didn't recognize it, it couldn't exist.
But that raised another problem.
Which constellation was surrounded by Libra, Scorpius, Norma, Circinus, Centaurus, and Hydra?
No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't remember.
Minutes passed. Then an hour. My head started to ache.
"Now that I think about it…" I murmured, rubbing my temples. "I once read something about a centaur impaling a creature with a spear…"
Then suddenly, it felt like a bomb exploded inside my mind.
"A wolf!" I shouted.
A memory surfaced.
A few days ago, I had dreamed of a night sky, where the stars had formed the shape of a wolf.
That was it.
That was the missing puzzle piece. It had been with me all along.
I slowly lifted my gaze and stared at the space between the six constellations. Carefully, I began tracing the shape in my mind. First the body and front legs, formed by six stars. Likely Alpha (α), Beta (ꞵ), Gamma (𝛾), Delta (𝛿), and others like them. Then the head, made of three stars arranged in a triangular shape.
The moment I finished tracing it with my eyes, the stars forming the wolf suddenly brightened.
A massive outline appeared in the sky.
It was as if someone had dipped a brush in white ink and painted the wolf directly onto the heavens. Its form was majestic, luminous, and breathtaking.
I couldn't take my eyes off it.
Then, the wolf moved.
"What the hell?!" I shouted as I fell back onto my butt, startled beyond belief. I still wasn't used to this magical nonsense!
The wolf lowered its head, its glowing eyes seemingly locking onto me.
And then—
A voice echoed inside my head.
⌈Who are you to stare at me?⌋
Something inside me snapped.
My body convulsed violently as foam spilled from my mouth. I collapsed onto the ground, my limbs seizing uncontrollably as my vision spun. My eyes rolled back, and the world faded to black.
Then, I lost consciousness.