Chapter 195
Chapter 195
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: Enlightenment
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He couldn't regain his senses.
The sheer volume of mana constantly flowing into him was overwhelming enough, but the eons of time condensed within it ran far too deep.
What Lil was doing was far removed from a simple mana massage.
It was a far more advanced stage: mana transference.
'Why go this far?'
Park Chan-woo's pupils trembled violently.
Lil was passing down her own enlightenment to him.
As a result, the density of mana coursing through his entire body began to skyrocket.
However, such an act would leave the caster—at minimum—a cripple.
She might never cast magic again.
Even for a transcendent being, this was a taboo no one walking the path of magic should ever break—and yet Lil had just shattered it.
—Empty yourself.
Lil's voice echoed in his mind.
Empty himself?
What exactly did that mean?
'The mana.'
He knew instinctively.
What the transcendent Lil intended for him to do.
The third stage of mana: condensation.
The final and most crucial step of the basics.
How he overcame this condensation would determine his future—it was no exaggeration.
And Lil planned to make him realize both methods of condensation simultaneously.
Increasing and decreasing the mana density.
Increasing it—that was what Lil was helping with.
Decreasing it—that was solely his responsibility.
Normally, one would complete condensation using just one method or the other.
—Empty, fill, empty again.
Perhaps realizing both together was the true completion of condensation, Lil had always thought.
That was the nature of magic.
You could never reach the opposite side by leaning too far in one direction.
Neither Sepiro nor Lil had understood each other's domains, advancing only toward their extremes.
Perhaps that's why they never reached the "end."
According to Lil's theory, this final basic stage was one of the most important processes.
'Empty the mana...'
Soon, his trembling body stilled.
It grew as quiet as if frozen in time.
He slowly closed his eyes and began withdrawing all his mana, step by step.
But due to the mana transcendence phenomenon, his mana density had already exceeded 150% in an instant.
The connections binding the mana were so strong that pulling it apart wasn't easy.
If normal methods wouldn't work, extraordinary measures were needed.
'All mana to the heart.'
First, gather the mana.
There was no way he could empty every scattered bit throughout his body one by one.
The question was whether his heart could endure it.
Thump! Thump!
Condense all mana into the heart.
His heart pounded as if it might burst.
...Overloaded.
It had surpassed the heart's capacity to hold mana.
Pain choked his breath.
He felt like he might lose consciousness any second.
'Empty it.'
Yet he clung on stubbornly, successfully gathering all the mana into his heart.
The moment he expelled the condensed mana from a single point outward—
Shhhhhhh!
Smoke poured from his entire body.
A phenomenon caused by the forcibly expelled mana evaporating.
With his entire body's mana emptied in a flash, he plunged into extreme starvation.
Drip, drip, drip.
Blood streamed from his nose, eyes, ears, and mouth.
Mana dwelled in all things, sustaining their existence.
With all of it gone, death was closing in rapidly.
'I'm... fading away.'
This was no ordinary death.
He had died once before, but that was merely defeat at the hands of an overwhelming foe.
This death transcended that level by far.
...Loss.
The mana barrier sustaining his existence was crumbling.
He was experiencing the Abyss's curse, but agonizingly slowly.
If this continued, he would dissolve into smoke and vanish.
'...It's filling.'
But Lil's mana began flooding his body once more.
It surged in like a tidal wave, restoring his existence.
No mage could dare attempt this, nor even imitate it. Only Lil, the transcendent of mana, could achieve such a feat.
—Fear not.
—All things must empty and fill.
—It is your will that sets the limits.
...It was a mystical experience.
Emptied and refilled, his mana density grew even thicker.
Like a bone breaking and mending stronger than before.
160%.
A few more repetitions, and he could reach 200%.
He would also grow accustomed to operating at near-0% density.
But each cycle meant facing death multiple times.
An ordinary person would have given up after one.
Mana starvation and existential loss were the worst of all deaths.
'It is my will that sets the limits.'
He mulled over Lil's words.
When the mana barrier fully vanished.
The sense of loss and terror were indescribable.
He wanted to let go, to surrender everything.
But stopping there meant that was his limit.
The road ahead was long.
This was merely the third stage.
Before his regression, he had been stuck at the first stage, "Awakening."
He had never even attempted mana reversal.
No one had taught him, no such knowledge existed for him.
Thus, meeting Lil was a miracle for him.
A miracle that quenched the thirst he had craved his entire life!
'Magic has no limits.'
That was why he loved magic.
Regardless of his own talent, magic's expressions were boundless.
Even basic spells could astonish Sepiro.
【I shall call you 'Archmage' myself. Go boast about it anywhere!】
He was the only human acknowledged by Dragon God Sepiro.
As far as Park Chan-woo knew, no one across all races had been called "Archmage" by him.
Magic was like the breath of dragons.
To wield magic before dragons was like breathing.
They wouldn't acknowledge just anyone breathing.
Sepiro's recognition proved he had surpassed even draconic racial traits.
It all began with that one statement from him.
Park Chan-woo's dream.
His burning passion to become an Archmage.
Therefore.
'I, too, have no limits.'
He would set none.
Even Dragon God Sepiro... even that transcendent dragon he would surpass.
If he couldn't, better to die.
'...Empty.'
Emptying, filling, emptying again, filling once more.
Slowly, he was breaking through the mana barrier, the realm of enlightenment.
Awakening.
Most mages halt their steps in this first stage.
As the word implies: perceiving and awakening mana.
Not through skills or game-like elements, but truly confronting mana and magic—that was "Awakening."
The second stage, "Flow," is even more complex.
Few know of mana reversal, and even those who do rarely dare attempt turning mana backward at the risk of death.
But reaching "Flow" brings insight into mana's essence.
Allowing more concrete spells through mana.
From here, the mage's "will" begins infusing the magic.
The moment magic takes on its unique color.
...And the third stage, "Condensation," is far harder than the previous two.
The culmination of the basics—and the moment deciding what kind of mage one becomes.
Mages who dominate mana.
As the name suggests, they wield immensely powerful, flashy spells.
Progressing through stages demands vast mana, disrupting nature's order itself—that defined "Mana Dominators."
Most mages fall into this category.
Yet a rare few treat mana as a companion.
Like Lil, those who do not defy nature or providence, viewing mana as an equal.
—I realized far too late that clinging to one path alone defies magic's nature.
The paradox of magic.
Obsession with one direction prevents reaching the ultimate.
One must know both domination and harmony, experience all, to touch true pinnacle.
Sepiro was the same.
He knew only "domination."
—Sepiro. You never understood my way. Nor I yours.
To be a true mage, must one not seek to understand all?
You can't surpass walls by giving up or turning hostile from the start.
The problem was realizing it too late.
He should have known this during the sequence of the third stage, condensation.
No, no.
Even if he had known, he couldn't have executed it.
To internalize both cases required immense will unafraid of death, open-mindedness, genuine love for magic, and a mentor like Lil to attempt mana transference.
The odds of possessing all that were near zero.
—But this mortal is different.
...And yet, one who met the criteria had appeared.
Lil gazed at Park Chan-woo, eyes closed in serene meditation, and thought.
'He's already surpassing the wall on his own.'
She was no longer needed.
Having grasped the method bit by bit, Park Chan-woo was suddenly repeating the cycle alone: emptying and filling.
Releasing mana outward, then seizing the expelled mana himself to refill.
It was astonishing.
She had never taught him how to recapture externally released mana.
Yet he had internalized and begun doing it solo.
'......He's advancing alone.'
Park Chan-woo had already completed the third stage, condensation.
Even for the transcendent Lil, this was utterly unforeseen.
He was even surpassing yet another wall post-condensation.
Perhaps a phenomenon from mastering both cases—but no matter how she looked, Park Chan-woo seemed to have gained another "enlightenment" on his own.
Especially the phenomenon of drawing expelled mana back inward—it matched only one thing.
'Mana resonance.'
Resonating with mana.
...Meaning he had entered the advanced fourth stage, "Resonance," by himself.
That was when it happened.
Fwaaaah!
Suddenly, a brilliant, multicolored flower bloomed above Park Chan-woo's head.