The Stone That Weeps in Seven Colors
It was a stone chamber of immense proportions. The ceiling was so high I had to crane my neck just to see it. Having stepped into the realm of a 5-star mage, my spatial perception had sharpened dramatically. I felt an abyssal pressure, as if I had descended to the deepest trenches of the ocean aboard a submarine. Even without Natasha explaining it, I could tell we had reached the deepest underground levels of the tower.
“I had no idea something like this existed so far beneath the ground,” I said, genuinely astonished that such a vast, secret facility had been built beneath the Magic Tower.
The moment I instantly recognized it as an underground structure, Natasha pursed her lips into a perfect little ‘o’, let out a playful “Oh~”, and flashed a mischievous grin.
“Your achievement has risen, and now you can gauge even this depth as easily as breathing?”
I had never told her about my recent breakthrough. Yet she had already noticed the change in my power simply by looking at me. She must have realized it the moment we met last night.
“If I couldn’t even manage this much, I’d have to give up my seat as the Tower Master’s disciple.”
At my words, Natasha suddenly grabbed my collar with surprising strength and furrowed her brows deeply.
Her small hand clenched my collar so tightly that the stiff fabric crumpled completely. It was as if she would never let go, no matter what.
Huh? It was just an offhand remark.
Wasn’t she overreacting to a single passing comment? Her expression was so deadly serious that I found myself slightly flustered.
Well… I will eventually leave for real, though…
My ultimate goal was to wander the world and travel freely. If she reacted this sensitively to a casual comment, I was already worried about whether she would ever let me go peacefully in the future.
“Aigoo, you’re getting way ahead of yourself. Okay, okay, I got it.”
I patted her back soothingly, like comforting a sulking child. The sight of a kid consoling an adult was absurd, but after a few gentle strokes, Natasha’s tightly knitted brows finally relaxed, as if she had been reassured.
“By the way, Master. What is that stone?”
My gaze shifted to the center of the chamber. A colossal rainbow-colored stone stood tall, radiating an overwhelming presence as if it were the true master of this space. It seemed this was exactly why Natasha had brought me here.
“It is called the Seven Origin Stone. This is a secret area built specifically to house it.”
Only then did Natasha release my collar and walk toward the stone. I followed and stood beside her in front of the crystal. It had looked large from afar, but up close the sheer pressure of its size was overwhelming. By rough estimate, it easily exceeded ten meters in height. Its volume was so massive that even two grown adults stretching their arms wide couldn’t hope to embrace it. This was the first time I had ever seen a mineral of such gigantic proportions.
Yet what astonished me more than its size was the light it contained. Its translucent surface shimmered with a soft rainbow glow, sparkling like a jewel. Inside, the rainbow radiance flowed like a viscous, sticky liquid. It looked exactly like blood.
Rainbow-colored blood.
It was as if seven different hues of thick, viscous blood were circulating heavily within a translucent heart.
But somehow…
As I stared at it quietly, a strange feeling took hold of me. The light was clearly bright—bright enough to illuminate the entire surroundings. Visually it was radiant, yet an inexplicable sense of darkness kept digging into my chest. Why did I feel such conflicting emotions?
“What impression does it give you?” Natasha asked.
“That light… it looks like blood.”
“Like blood?”
She had probably expected something ordinary like ‘it’s beautiful’ or ‘it looks like an incredible treasure.’ Her eyes widened in surprise at my answer.
“And?”
“It feels dark.”
“Dark?”
“You know how some people seem bright and cheerful on the outside, always smiling, but inside they’re filled with darkness and sorrow? It feels exactly like looking at someone like that.”
At least, that was how it appeared to me. Light that harbored darkness. Dark yet bright. Bright yet dark. A contradictory, paradoxical light where shadow and radiance coexisted.
“How can my disciple possess such keen observation and insight? I thought you were only gifted in the demonic arts, but it seems you were also born with an inner mirror that can peer into the depths of things. These days, you keep surprising me, my disciple.”
It had been nothing more than a simple impression—had I actually seen it correctly? She let out an exclamation as if speaking to herself, then turned her gaze back to the ore and continued.
“Four hundred years ago, a great war engulfed the entire continent.”
“A great war?”
“It was a war waged by races and nations over possession of this very stone. Those who sought to claim it. Those who sought to protect it. The world split into two factions and fought a brutal, bloody conflict.”
“……”
“It was a horrific era where corpses piled into mountains and the cries of grief never ceased. A long, long night. Though the seemingly endless war eventually came to a close, no one escaped the scars it left behind.”
“……”
“At that time, I heard this stone weeping bitterly. It was only for a moment, but I heard it clearly.”
Natasha looked at me again.
“You said it felt like blood and darkness? That is probably why. Like me, you sensed a fragment of the stone’s heart.”
After hearing her explanation, I finally understood why I had felt such a gloomy emotion from the stone. Some items and treasures were said to contain spirits or souls. This stone possessed a heart of its own, making it a living being capable of feeling pain and sorrow just like a person. I had only vaguely sensed it, but my master had actually heard the stone’s cries…
Wait a second.
She heard it four hundred years ago?
“Master. By any chance, your age…”
“My age?”
“Yes.”
“Four hundred and thirty-two years old.”
“Pardon?”
“You look so shocked, as if it’s the first time you’ve heard it. I think I told you before.”
Who exactly did you tell, Master?
She really is from ancient times.
I knew she carried the curse of immortality, but because she looked so young, I had assumed she was at most in her fifties. Not two hundred. Certainly not four hundred and thirty-two. I had severely underestimated her true age. At this point, she was practically a living fossil—an ammonite from the prehistoric era.
“But, Ancestor—no, Master. What exactly is the Seven Origin Stone that it caused a war of that scale?”
The fact that entire races had thrown themselves into war over a single rock meant it was a priceless treasure beyond measure. Just what was it?
“It is the origin of light. The primordial stone that contains the First Light.”
Every history has a beginning. Humanity traces back to Adam. The universe began with the Big Bang. If you trace origins far enough, everything converges at a single root. Sunlight, moonlight, starlight… there must be a first light from which all others sprang. Natasha was saying that the rainbow radiance inside the Seven Origin Stone was that primordial light.
The ultimate ancestor of all light. The mother of light. The father of light. In terms of genealogy, that was essentially what it was.
“Juno. Have you ever heard of the God of Light?”
I shook my head. I was just a country bumpkin who had barely crawled into mage society. How much could I possibly know about gods? The only knowledge I had was that there were two categories—cosmic gods and outer gods. I knew nothing more specific than that.
“Among the cosmic gods, there is one who rules over light. He is commonly known as the ‘God of Light.’ In the present age, no organizations or churches worship him, but until the ancient era, he was a deity whose holy power flourished and who communicated actively with humans.”
“What is his name?”
“No one knows his name. A god’s true name is not something one can learn simply by wishing to know it. Those who seek a god’s true name must pay with their lives as the price.”
That made sense. This wasn’t the name of the neighbor’s dog. It was the true name of an absolute deity who governed the order of the universe. There was no way such a being, who transcended human understanding and ruled over all creation, would allow his exalted name to be treated as something equal to a mortal’s.
“As you know, the world is wide and full of madmen. There have been deranged fanatics who offered their lives as sacrifices in hopes of learning the true name of the god they worshipped. But even if they learned it, they died before they could record it, so the god’s true name has never been revealed to the world. That is why gods are only called by their aliases or titles.”
“Then what is the alias of the God of Light?”
“Master of All Light.”
Master of All Light…
As I mulled over the words and committed them to memory, Natasha clasped her hands behind her back and continued.
“The greatest holy relic once possessed by the God of Light was the Seven Origin Stone. Legend says that whoever obtains the Seven Origin Stone will gain transcendent, godlike power comparable to the God of Light himself. That is why the great war broke out.”
“A holy relic that could allow one to become a god… That’s incredible.”
I had known it was an extraordinary treasure, but hearing the full story made it clear why it was called a priceless sacred object. It was utterly captivating.
“But isn’t it yours now, Master? Why do you only keep it stored away instead of using it? With it, you could transcend even the rank of Great Mage and ascend to godhood.”
As if she had expected the question, the corners of Natasha’s lips curved into a faint smile.
“I made a vow long ago. I swore I would not harbor selfish desires toward the Seven Origin Stone and would fulfill my duty as its guardian.”
I could tell she was holding back. Far more remained unspoken than what she had said. Between the great war, the holy relic, Natasha, and the Magic Tower, there seemed to be an enormously complicated story she found difficult to voice.
“Simply possessing the Seven Origin Stone does not mean one can monopolize the entire First Light. The amount currently contained within it is only half of the original total.”
That was astonishing. Even in its current state, the rainbow radiance bursting from it carried an overwhelming aura. It felt like gazing upon flawless, perfect divinity—an extreme purity that left one awestruck. And yet it was only half. I couldn’t even imagine how magnificent it would be in its complete, original form.
“Why is the other half missing?”
“Originally, the First Light was whole. That was before the God of Light tore half of it from the stone.”
“……”
“According to ancient texts, the separated half of the light split into seven branches and scattered across the world in every direction.”
In other words, long ago the First Light had been divided in two. Fifty percent remained in this stone, while the other fifty percent was dispersed throughout the world.
“There is no record of where the God placed the light he severed. However, after investigating for hundreds of years using the knowledge and senses of a Great Mage, I discovered one thing…”
Natasha pointed at a spot on the surface of the Seven Origin Stone. It was the section containing a golden radiance among the seven colors.
“This Gold Light is identical to the golden light of the layers.”
“…!”
I recalled the net-like layers that filled space. The beautiful golden light that flowed through each layered plane.
“You’re saying the golden light of the layers is one of the First Light?”
“Correct.”
Natasha continued pointing at each of the seven radiances inside the stone in order.
“The First Light consists of seven individual colors. Gold Light. White Light. Red Light. Green Light. Blue Light. Indigo Light. Violet Light.”
“……”
“Each light not only differs in color but is known to possess its own unique property. Among them, the property of Gold Light is destruction.”
I recalled what had happened yesterday inside the erosion zone. The moment I had absorbed the golden light flowing across the surface of the layers. At the time, I had absorbed the golden energy that formed space into my body, named it Photonic Force, and created a technique using it which I called the Photonic Vacuum Art. Inspired by the Jin race’s spiritual qi, I had attempted to obtain the power of light.
So the photonic force I absorbed was one of the First Light.
Putting it all together…
The god had scattered half of the First Light throughout the world. One of those scattered lights was the Gold Light within the layers.
And I accidentally absorbed that Gold Light?
I couldn’t suppress the shock surging inside me. It felt like an electric current was running down my spine. What kind of absurd coincidence was this? No wonder the destructive power of my photonic force had been far beyond ordinary. It was the power of a holy relic.
“Master, actually yesterday…”
I began to confess about the photonic force. But there was no need. Even without me saying anything, she had already perceived the photonic force flowing within my body.
“You were about to say that you absorbed the golden light of the layers and created your own technique with it, weren’t you?”
“Wow. Nothing gets past your eyes, Master.”
“How could I not know? The golden veins flowing along your blood vessels and meridians are clearly visible. It appeared after you returned from the erosion zone yesterday, so you must have absorbed it while you were there.”
However, for some reason, Master’s expression didn’t look pleased. She crossed her arms and let out a deep sigh that seemed to empty her lungs.
“My disciple. Do you truly not understand why I brought you here and told you this long story?”
“Is there some problem?”
“Aigoo, look at those pure, innocent eyes! What am I going to do with this adorable child!”
I tilted my head in confusion. What exactly was the problem?
“In this world, there are those who secretly pursue the First Light in order to obtain great power.”
“……”
“If they learn that a young mage possesses the first of the First Light—the Gold Light—do you think they will simply leave you alone?”