Light and Enlightenment
Have you ever seen golden rain pouring down like melted gold beneath a cloudless blue sky? Of course not. No one has—except me.
‘……’
I stared up at the sky as if entranced. The golden downpour reflected in my dark eyes. The sight was so beautiful it bordered on rapture, and my entire body trembled. A torrent of light beams surged toward me alone. It felt as though I had become the protagonist of the world. The entire world. The entire sky. The hundreds of eyes of the cosmic gods seemed to be focused solely on me among countless humans. In that moment, I could proudly declare that I was the center.
Just to be clear, this isn’t baseless arrogance or an overinflated ego. It’s simply the recognition that I am the center of space. ‘Yes. My central axis of space is me. No one else can take that place.’
Thinking about it, it was only natural. Everyone is the protagonist of their own life. Their personal orbit revolves around the axis called “I.” Because we’re so accustomed to living, we sometimes forget that we are the main characters. Dragged down by the storms of the mundane world, we occasionally imagine that successful, thriving others are the protagonists while our own insignificant selves are mere extras. Yet the subject living that life remains the self called “I.” In that sense……
‘Magic is like life.’
Just as the center of life is “I,” the center of one’s own magical world is also “I.” A truth that runs through both magic and life. The moment my thoughts aligned with reason, enlightenment struck my mind like lightning. A massive tremor spread through my soul as if an earthquake had erupted within it. I sensed that a great transformation was about to occur inside me.
‘……!’
And the change happened in an instant. My body began greedily absorbing the golden rain like a sponge. ‘Hrk……!’
A flood of golden radiance poured in. The recent enlightenment seemed to have acted as a catalyst, accelerating the absorption. ‘……An enormous amount.’
Though it was sudden, I calmly closed my eyes again. Focusing every nerve, I concentrated on drawing in every drop of the vast light energy flowing into my body without missing a single particle.
Even after entering my body, the light continued to flow like water. Instinctively, I circulated the waves of light throughout my entire system according to that flow—from the crown of my head to the tips of my toes, then back again. Like rainwater seeping into the earth, the warm, spring-sunlight-like radiance gently filled my muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and cells. There was no guide or recipe, but my innate instincts led the way, softly saturating my organs.
As I focused, my sense of time gradually dulled. ‘Why does this feel so familiar?’
It was strange how oddly familiar the sensation felt from the start. It should have been unfamiliar or awkward, yet I even felt a joyful sense of reclaiming something precious I had lost long ago. No matter how profound the enlightenment, how could it feel this natural? It was astonishing how effortlessly I controlled the power of light, as if it had always been mine.
‘Is it because my affinity with light is so high?’
The complete absence of rejection or side effects suggested that light and I shared some connection. I had no idea how much time had passed. After stabilizing the power of light, a pleasant sense of fullness rose to the crown of my head. A feeling of elevation, as if my soul were being gently pulled upward, became vividly clear—like riding an elevator smoothly ascending to the next floor. It was the symptom that appeared when one’s realm advanced a stage.
‘My realm has risen.’
From 4-star to 5-star. ‘I didn’t plan for a realm breakthrough.’
It was completely unexpected. I had only tried to obtain the power of light, yet my achievement had risen unintentionally. A rush of dopamine exploded through my nerves like fireworks. It was the same joy one feels when impulsively stepping into a back-alley restaurant during a trip only to discover it’s a hidden gem.
‘I should stop here for now.’
I applied the brakes to the process. Part of me wanted to absorb more, but the sense of fullness had reached its limit; there was simply no room left for additional light. Regrettable as it was, this was the current capacity. Forcing more greed from the outset risked delayed side effects, so stopping was the right choice.
“Hoo.”
I opened my eyes once more and examined my body for any changes. Outwardly, there were no visible alterations to my physical form. However, when I tried extracting the accumulated light power within, a soft golden glow rose across my skin, flowing along my silhouette like a faint outline. I drew the light silhouette back inside and opened my palm. When I pulled on the power of light, a golden stream of radiance traveled along the nerves of my arm, surged from my palm, and fluttered above it.
I repeated the process of drawing the light out like thread and returning it to my body. After a few attempts, I could instantly summon and retract it at will. ‘Once I got used to it, it became easy.’
Could I shape it into three-dimensional forms? If I could freely control its emergence, it might be possible. I rolled the thin, silk-like stream of light as if kneading dough, gathering it into a sphere. Shaping the light proved surprisingly simple. Because I had become one with it, I could confidently claim it was no different from an extension of myself. If I willed it, I could mold the length and form of the light as freely as moving my own limbs.
‘……Done. I did it.’
A radiant orb of light glowed brightly in my palm. I could feel the powerful force emanating from the sphere. The hypothesis had been proven. ‘Ah, what a thrilling moment this is!’
They say that when a person is too shocked, they lose their words, and when they are overjoyed, tears come. No—that isn’t quite right. When joy surges so intensely that it defies all description, the entire body convulses. Just like I was now. My body trembled uncontrollably, like a vibrating phone. My mind felt so white-hot with ecstasy that it seemed ready to melt. ‘Haa……’
A languid moan escaped my lips without my realizing it. It felt as though I had lived for this very moment. After trembling with rapture for a while, my reason gradually returned. I should give this power of light a name…… ‘Luminous Force.’ The power of light. “Luminous Force” suits it perfectly.
‘I should name the cultivation method based on Luminous Force as well.’
It wasn’t only the Jin Realm that had cultivation arts. Magic also possessed its own cultivation methods and spell formulas. ‘What should I call it……’
……Luminous Advancement Art. Yes, “Luminous Advancement Art” fits, in the sense of advancing together with light. Since first stepping into magic, this was the first cultivation method I had independently created as a mage. The more I repeated the name, the more fitting it sounded. A smile lingered on my lips, refusing to fade from the sense of pride. ‘I’ll tell Master once I get off work.’
She would probably be even happier than I was. After all, she was the one who supported and cheered for my achievements more sincerely than anyone. Now then…… ‘At this point, the balance of power should be roughly equal.’
By “balance of power,” I meant my matchup against the swordsman who had killed me. With my realm now at 5-star and having obtained Luminous Force, I possessed more than enough strength to face him. A grin spread across my face. Rising to my feet, I bared both corners of my mouth in a wide smile and flung open the door to Room 6.
* * *
Whoosh. Winter. A pure white snowfield covering the ground. The village scenery was exactly the same as before. Once again, the red gem on the bracelet item activated, keeping my body temperature comfortably warm. Since I had been here before, the general layout was already in my head. Footprints marked the snow where I walked. Crunch, crunch, crunch.
‘I took quite a while, so he might not be here anymore.’
I had come here to find him, but because I had spent so much time in Room 2, there was no guarantee the swordsman was still in Room 6. He might have already moved on to the next room. ‘I’ll search first. If he’s not here, I’ll just collect the items and head to the next room.’
As I walked, I spread my consciousness in all directions, checking for any signs of life. A moment later, a natural smile formed on my lips. ‘He’s here.’
One presence registered on my radar. Contrary to my worries, the swordsman was apparently still around. ‘Hm?’
However, there was a difference from the previous run. ‘The smell of blood.’
Having advanced to 5-star, my senses had grown even sharper. When a faint metallic scent carried on the snowy wind brushed past my nose, my brow furrowed involuntarily. ‘Don’t tell me this bastard……’
According to the con man, the swordsman had been traveling with the Jin party members. Recalling those words, I could guess whose blood this was. The direction the scent came from was the forest—the same forest where I had found the cave in the previous run.
「Silent Steps」
I concealed my presence with stealth magic and headed toward the forest. After entering the woods and following the blood scent for a while, I discovered snow stained red with blood and corpses lying upon it. There were three bodies, all with sharply pointed ears. ‘As expected. The swordsman’s doing.’
Who else would have reduced his own kin and party members to this state? Naturally, the survivor was the culprit. And that person was…… ‘He’s coming.’
I leapt onto the tallest nearby tree and reinforced my stealth magic. The figure of a man walking steadily through the piled snow came into view. It was him. ‘How convenient that he came to me.’
With a hardened expression, I secretly activated Luminous Advancement Art and began drawing up my Luminous Force.