Chapter 470 - Brilliant Eyes
The dewdrops gathered on the blades of grass fell, moistening the soil. Beyond the refreshing air unique to dawn, the bright morning illuminated the world.
"..."
Verden sat almost motionless, having spent the entire night in the same place.
For a Transcendent to feel drowsiness, either that much power must have been consumed, or sleep must have been forcibly denied for an extraordinarily long time.
Since neither applied to Verden, he passed the time calmly and peacefully. If he wanted to force himself to sleep, he could, but this felt more natural.
Besides, the hut was too filthy to lie down in comfort.
'So it's finally finished.'
Verden rose from the steps.
He didn't need to look directly to know what state the interior of the hut was in.
Just then, the door opened, and Isabella, having completed the final process, came outside.
"Master, did I keep you waiting long? Ta-da, look at this. It's finally done."
The transparent container holding the demon core reflected the sunlight and shimmered.
With a faint smile on her lips, Isabella hummed a tune as she approached.
Even if she had been aided, to manufacture a demon core in less than a day was proof of her proficiency in alchemy.
Pure joy.
As the famed Melodist of Fortune, even her short humming sounded sweet and captivating.
"And I also learned the manufacturing method. Now, as long as I have the materials, I should be able to make one on my own, right?"
"I'd like to warn you that arrogance breaks the nose… but so long as you don't make mistakes along the way, you shouldn't fail."
Lito, who came out right after, yawned and tapped his shoulder a few times.
"This young lady you brought, her eye for things is exceptional, no exaggeration. She's bright. Solid foundation, and at the same time, her handwork is uniquely inventive. It seems she may have studied on her own after graduating the academy. She certainly has prospects."
Apparently, it wasn't just Isabella who had been observing.
"...You really do know a lot."
"Keh-heh, that's experience for you."
Lito had lived longer than the two of them combined. That depth was not something to be dismissed.
In any case.
The demon core was completed as planned, so there was no longer any reason to remain here.
Verden and Lito faced each other.
"I'd like to sit down for a leisurely tea, but perhaps that should wait until another time."
"Yes, yes. If your business is finished, you should go. You must be busy. Thanks to you, I'll be busy as well… ah, by the way. Do you remember what I said before?"
"What do you mean…"
"You know, back then, in the Spider Forest. The story about dreams and the campfire."
Ah, of course he remembered.
───Your eyes, when you spoke of your dream. They blazed furiously. Approaching them would have been enough to burn to death. Surely, it meant you carried a fiery desire to achieve that dream.
───But when a campfire burns too brightly, its radiance blinds, so much so you can't even see what's near. Before adding new wood, it may burn through everything and leave nothing but ash… ahem, I've talked too much, my throat's dry.
That was a memory that had come to him when he was on the path toward Transcendence.
Though it hadn't been intentional, Lito had been one of the figures who indirectly helped Verden reach his decision.
"Unlike back then, to be honest, I can't tell what kind of eyes you have now. They seem to burn even more fiercely, and yet, they also seem a little dimmer… but this one thing is certain."
Lito raised one corner of his mouth.
"At least, those beside you won't be burned alive."
The old alchemist's contemplations and personal views, offered yesterday and today, left a deep impression on a Transcendent being.
Verden let out a faint smile.
"If I have another commission, I'll come again."
"Keh-heh, you've stolen the demon core formula, so you'll visit for something else. Next time, don't go through Pale, just come to me directly. I'll be waiting."
Once again, it was time to part ways.
This time, Lito didn't return straight into the hut. With a rough wave of his hand, like shooing birds away, he saw them off.
Isabella expressed her thanks, saying that if she ever came again she'd bring Verden along, then ascended into the sky at his side.
In the blink of an eye, their figures receded into the distance.
Lito, watching the sky where they had disappeared, murmured.
"…Perhaps I'll be the one to seek them first."
Turning his back, he walked on.
Lysandro's fruit, was it?
Lito Varslan carried with him that eager, youthful anticipation he had always felt through exploration and discovery, as he returned to the hut.
***
Arriving in a quiet forest untouched by human traces, Verden used
The environment was nearly identical to when he had gained the Mystic Eye.
Of course, location was not a variable, so even if they returned to the Central Continent and absorbed the demon core there, the result wouldn't change.
Even so, he chose this place because Isabella wished to follow directly in Verden's footsteps.
"Hoo…"
Isabella placed her hand over her chest and exhaled softly.
Tension was written on her face.
It was an unavoidable reaction. After all, it was a demon core.
For a Mage to be given the chance to absorb such a thing, they would usually have to be at least the disciple of a tower master.
For Isabella, whose official record went no further than academy graduation, this was a distant, unattainable dream.
So of course she had never absorbed a demon core before───and now, the moment of gaining new power had come.
"You memorized what I organized about the essence of the demon core, right?"
"Yes, I remember everything."
Fundamentally, the demon core strengthens mana circuits, increases magic power, speeds up casting, and purifies mana, raising the Mage's overall ability.
That was common knowledge in the magic world.
But what Verden had learned from Lito about the demon core was of a higher dimension.
The essence of the demon core is to become one with the Mage's body, supplementing its magical shortcomings and allowing it to grow even further.
The difference between knowing and not knowing this was far greater than expected.
Misunderstandings born of misconception would unconsciously restrict the core's potential.
And Lito had gone further, posing an extreme question.
Then what would happen, if a Mage with no deficiencies in their body absorbed a demon core?
Since it was a case unobserved in the magical world, Lito's speculations could go no further than pondering.
'But I know the answer.'
Because he had experienced it himself.
Verden had written a thesis using the process of gaining the Mystic Eye as a theme, reviving every memory and sensation of that time.
Written for one person alone.
Isabella, who had pored over that academic record dozens of times, now knew as much about the Mystic Eye as her master did.
Verden added.
"If the prediction is right, the changes in you will happen rapidly. I'll guide the flow of mana. It'll hurt less than when your body was partially reconstructed… but still, endure it."
For an instant, Isabella vividly recalled the excruciating pain when the Defying the Heavens magic circle had been engraved on her back, but she paid it no mind.
It was nothing.
Compared to what she was determined to do, it wasn't even worth worrying over. She firmly nodded, showing unwavering resolve.
"Then, let's begin."
Bending her arm, Isabella brought the demon core to her heart. As she activated her mana circuits, the core responded.
Slowly, the power of the demon core seeped into her heart.
"Kh…!"
Mana of different traits intertwined.
They tangled together.
For an ordinary Mage, the two conflicting manas would simply merge naturally, ending the absorption process, but she was anything but ordinary.
The mana circulating through her circuits reversed and converged upon her heart.
The Defying the Heavens magic circle engraved on her back shone violently, and in an instant, it unleashed a tremendous explosion of mana.
The artificial underground chamber shook fiercely, clumps of earth falling loose.
At present, Isabella's level was high 6th tier.
Since her heart's mana had not been fully unsealed, Verden at 4th-tier middle rank had held less mana than she did now, so the reaction was far more violent.
'Now.'
At that moment, Verden pressed his hand against Isabella's back.
Directly over her heart.
At once, he released overwhelming presence, and the rampaging mana raging through her body like a wild horse was subdued in an instant.
A high-level interference of mana, forcibly suppressing her resistance and directly affecting her body.
That it proceeded so smoothly was due not only to Verden's overwhelming power, and to Isabella lowering her own resistance,
But above all, because Isabella, who had achieved a partial Defying the Heavens with the purest mana, possessed mana that was fundamentally close to Verden's.
"...!!!...!!!!"
From between her tightly clenched lips escaped a pained groan.
The Transcendent lifted his palm away, and slowly moved the tips of his index and middle fingers upward along her back.
The core of the demon core followed his touch. Soon it climbed her pale nape, traced her jaw and cheek, and at that moment.
Verden's eyes flared with light.
Fwaaaah!
Everything of the demon core, which had shifted to Isabella's left eye, broke out of control.
Pressure as though half her head would burst.
Agony as if her brain were being pounded in a mortar struck her nervous system.
"───Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh!"
At last Isabella screamed, clutching her face with both hands, sinking to her knees and bowing her upper body as if collapsing.
Kwa-du-du-duk.
The fierce strength in her clenched hand tore harshly into the ground she barely supported herself on.
Soon after, the echoes subsided.
Silence descended.
At some point, the pain had completely vanished.
Isabella slowly raised her head.
Her left eye, stained with cold sweat, was utterly anomalous. The golden pupil was divided into hundreds.
Then, as it writhed, they gathered in an instant at the center, becoming one.
A golden eye, filled with mana.
In Isabella's gaze appeared a Defying the Heavens magic circle, different from Verden's.
***
The manifestation of the Mystic Eye was a success.
With proof of his certainty, Verden lightly supported Isabella. Leaning against him, she rose to her feet, blinking repeatedly.
"I can see, in front of me."
Even with her right eye closed, she could see herself clenching and unclenching her palm.
The eye that had completely lost function due to the artifact [Master of Falanhard] had now regained vision beyond what it originally possessed.
'Living half-blind had become so familiar that it wasn't much inconvenience…'
But of course, this was incomparably more comfortable and better. Regaining the lost half of the world moved her deeply.
She was about to say something when Verden cut in first.
"Spare me the thanks. I've heard too much already. More importantly, see for yourself what's become of you."
"Ah… right."
Verden brightened the chamber with light and handed her a small mirror. Taking a deep breath, Isabella looked at her reflection.
The golden eyes, flickering with light.
Seeing the magic circle engraved there, she tilted her head.
"This eye, it's very different from Master's."
If Verden's Mystic Eye held within it the complete, intricate, geometric Defying the Heavens magic circle,
Then Isabella's Mystic Eye was twisted in part, with a pattern that flowed along living veins.
Verden replied.
"The forms differ because the degree of reconstructed bodies isn't the same. But beyond that… likely, there's another reason."
Isabella, by species, was not classified as human.
Surely that fact had profoundly influenced the outcome.
"Hmm, it would've been better if it were like yours, but this isn't bad. At first my vision split into hundreds, I wondered what was happening… now what should I do next?"
"Concentrate mana in your eye. Then, imagine pouring that subtle pressure outward at the end of your gaze. That should make it easier."
Isabella followed Verden's instructions exactly.
Through her activated mana circuits, her left eye filled with mana.
The chamber was dyed golden.
Instinctively grasping its use, she focused the pressure forward, raising her ocular force dramatically, and her vision shifted at once.
"This is…"
Soil and stone.
The structures of the things before her were completely revealed.
It was not mere clairvoyance.
She could see what they were composed of.
Even the air was so, and… even space itself was within the dissecting scope of her Mystic Eye.
Because of the immense burden, she stopped midway.
But Isabella realized what her Mystic Eye held.
'Visualization of essence…!'
In other words, the ability to observe at once the composition of all things, to peel away the shells that cloaked them.
This was no less than Verden's Mystic Eye, though naturally it had its drawback.
Even if she discerned new elements within a thing, without sufficient knowledge she could not understand their identity.
And the more conceptual she tried to see, the greater the backlash. That was basic.
Hearing her explanations, Verden stroked his chin.
'Similar in part to a Transcendent's senses, but altogether a different type.'
A Transcendent's insight was pure intuition, while Isabella's Mystic Eye emphasized analysis rather than feeling.
"Is there nothing else?"
"I think it can be used in many ways, but one more thing for now. This might be similar to yours, Master."
Isabella activated her Mystic Eye toward a small stone.
Within the stone, mana began to clump together like a grotesque tumor.
Then it caused a small explosion, releasing cold.
Kwa-jijijik!
Jagged ice spikes burst out from within, shattering the stone to pieces.
Verden's eyes widened slightly.
'She triggered magic at a distance.'
She couldn't cast magic at a location in her sight without precursors, as Verden could.
Instead, she caused elemental phenomena by condensing mana into the interior beyond her gaze.
Lethal.
Considering her magecraft that eroded an opponent's magic resistance, if caught by her Mystic Eye, an enemy might as well be living on borrowed time.
From the moment even a speck of mana tumor imbued with the magic of Erosion formed inside, their resistance would be gnawed away second by second.
"Impressive."
Verden praised.
Isabella had worried it was too vicious, but the moment she received his praise, her expression brightened.
"Right? It's more than I expected. This would be extremely useful even in alchemy. But… thinking about it, calling this a Mystic Eye seems overlapping with yours."
"Do you have another name in mind?"
"It shines brightly, and strictly speaking, it's specialized for observation, right? So I plan to name it Brilliant Eyes. What do you think?"
"Better than Mystic Eye."
As if it were natural, Verden approved her naming.
With a radiant smile, Isabella turned her face, flushed with delight.
"Now, I'll be of even greater help to you, Mas───"
She froze.
Her breath caught. A reflexive rigidity. The still-activated Brilliant Eyes… had involuntarily visualized Verden's essence.
A dizzying reverberation spread.
But it wasn't only because she had tried to observe a Transcendent.
'A great tree…? No, no, this is beyond that level…!'
From Verden, she saw a colossal tree, and beyond it, an expanding space.
Vast, boundless, endless.
A world.
For a fleeting instant, Isabella saw the world that constituted Verden's essence.
And she fainted.
***
That day, in the Primal Land.
───Verden, do you know why the Elves think of me when they see your mana?"
───Pardon?
───Because, essentially, we are the same. To put it more precisely, you are of a higher-dimensional concept than I.
So said the World Tree.
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