The First Light

A/N:

So, I've also finished mapping out a sizable amount of the fanfic so it'll go on so long as I don't lose motivation. (Just so you know, your comments really keep me going <3)

Anyways, I don't really have anything else so, happy reading :D

"What in the—!?"

Hearing Virion's shout of shock, I quickly opened my eyes.

"…Woa."

My jaw dropped at the beautiful sight.

A cluster of glowing golden lights lightly floated in my hands. They looked almost like… petals. The gleam of the petals with a golden aura illuminated my vision with the warm color of gold.

—Shhhh

Hearing the soft sound, I peeled my eyes away and looked up.

As if the world were responding to the petals, the grass, leaves, and everything else rustled and moved like pulses of wind were passing through. In their lofty place in the sky, the clouds themselves seemed to start spinning in a spiral as though they were welcoming the advent of something.

—Wheeesh BOOM

Even the thunder clapped above like drums, and the winds screamed like a trumpet. The symphony of nature seemed like as though it were announcing the arrival of something.

Then, through the clouds overhead, I could see even the northern lights while threads of green, red, blue, and yellow light spun throughout the air around me.

Judging from the fact that I was the epicenter of all of this, that something… should be me.

Breaking away from the awe-inspiring scene, I turned my gaze back down to the cause of this bending of nature.

The brilliant glow of the golden lights still illuminated the earth with the petals floating between my hands.

"Just… what…"

"…"

Virion's unexpected voice startled me out of my trance, causing the golden light to flicker out.

Wondering if the disappearance of the golden petals changed anything, I glanced around. As I expected, the scene began to slowly disperse.

"W-wait. Bring it back."

"U-uh? O-okay."

I jumbled up my words and stuttered a bit, but I complied and did my best to try.

However, the golden light didn't come back.

"…?"

I wondered what was going on, but a sudden pain struck my solar plexus. Specifically, my core.

Keeling over and reeling from the pain, I frantically tried to sense my core to see if there was anything that wrong.

I could faintly hear Alea's and Virion's worried shouts, but I could barely gather myself to sense my core let alone try to make out what they were saying.

Finally, after some wrestling with my screaming mind, I managed to take a look at my core. My core was… fine?

I furrowed my brows and tried again.

Indeed, all that happened was that my core went from being black to a dark red.

Then what was with this pain?

I tried searching through my core, and I finally found the cause of the pain.

The obscene amount of mana that had been initially sucked towards me during my awakening was suddenly occupying the space within my core. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that my core was currently stretched out to the maximum and that it was close to popping.

Seeing this now, it started to make sense. It was strange that I, who had sucked in so much mana that I destroyed an eighth of the capital, would have so little mana in me. Well, it was probably average for others, but subjectively, it was minuscule.

It seemed that breaking out of the black stage was what allowed the practical sea of mana within me to finally be usable.

But those were thoughts for later. My core was about to pop, and I was in unimaginable pain.

"H-help…"

I could only mutter helplessly as I began to feel faint.

It felt like my solar plexus was about to be torn apart but that made sense since my core was literally on the verge of explosion.

Just when I was just about to pass out from the pain, two hands touched me. One on my abdomen and one on my back.

The reason why I felt the sensation so clearly was that the second they did, I suddenly began to feel better.

The two hands made me feel strangely secure as I slowly began to tap out.

**

—…fine?

Through my murky consciousness, I could hear a voice.

—He'd better…

A second one.

—…worry…anything but… fine.

Worry? Anything but fine?

I squiggled my brows as I tried to open my eyes.

—…e's coming to.

After some effort, I managed to push them open.

"He's awake."

I blinked a couple times. Then, my vision was greeted with the enlarged face of a certain old elf. If memory served right, that should be Virion.

I pouted and glared.

If I was going to see someone's face after almost dying, I'd much prefer Alea's face rather than this old coot.

As if satisfied by my reaction, Virion smirked and backed away.

"Umf."

Then, just as I thought of her, Alea dive bombed me.

"Mama?"

I felt a wet feeling through my shirt.

…

I was silent as my slow mind finally began to finish processing what was going on.

It was apparent, Alea had been worried about me after I passed out.

"Mama, no cry."

…I'm sorry, please don't cry.

I swallowed my fluency and just hugged her back with the best confused expression I could put on.

Honestly, I was angry at myself that even in situations like these, I had to act. It made me feel like I was being insincere. I could act like myself most of the time, but even then, I still had to use a filter.

After a minute or so, Alea broke off from the hug with teary eyes and looked at me for a moment before inspecting my body to make sure I was okay.

"…You can take your leave."

Virion spoke as he waved off another elf, which seemed to be my doctor, from observing his attire. The elf bowed respectfully before exiting.

"…Are you okay?"

My attention returned to Alea as she asked me with a worried face.

I closed my eyes to take a look at my mana core. It was glowing a dark red with a brighter shade peeking through a few cracks.

…Already?

It seemed I was already on the verge of breaking through to the solid red stage.

But shouldn't it be about to explode?

I put away my wish to celebrate, and I concentrated a bit harder to try and see what had changed. After a bit of searching, the answer revealed itself. It seemed that my core was no longer on the verge of blowing up. From the looks of it, the crazy amounts of mana that was inside me was no longer there.

Though I didn't know what happened, it seemed that I was okay now.

"I'm fine."

Right, making sure Alea wasn't worried anymore was more important than wondering where my mana went.

She still had a bit of an anxious expression but smiled.

"Ahem."

Then, interrupting out little moment, Virion coughed dryly.

"Ah, I'm sorry."

Alea flinched and backed away a little.

"Don't be."

Virion smiled but looked reticent. His gaze seemed to look through me as though he were looking at someone else.

"I'd be the same."

I wonder what this old dude's story is.

"In any case, I'm pretty sure you're curious as to where your mana has gone."

Virion sat down on a second seat as I nodded.

"Hmm… to explain briefly, throughout the body, there are known to be areas where clusters of mana channels and veins coalesce. Naturally, these areas are naturally more protected when an augmenter strengthens his body. Still, if properly struck, it can affect the flow of mana to that particular region.

Of course, they're normally impossible to hit in combat, but in our particular situation, it was possible."

I nodded along with his explanation.

In truth, I understood only a little of it, but I understood the basic essence.

"Now, what we did was we ruptured these regions to make it so that you're constantly leaking mana. In other words, it's a countermeasure made so you can't absorb a frightening amount of mana like you did before."

…?

Before?

I tilted my head. When Virion saw this, he massaged his temples lightly, most likely wondering why he was explaining all this to a two-year-old. Fortunately, he still answered me.

"Do you recall when sounds were coming from everywhere when you made the lights?"

Virion's explanation was dumbed down, but I knew he was referring to when I first summoned those gold petals.

"That was when you sucked in a ridiculous amount of mana."

So that meant his exclamation of shock wasn't about me summoning things but the movement of mana towards me.

I followed my train of thought further.

Then it wasn't that the wind was pulsing away from me but that it was pulsing towards me.

That made sense, considering that the clouds were spinning toward me rather than away from me. That must also be true for the wind as well as the light show.

Then the thunder… must've been from the friction of the rapidly moving clouds.

With that conclusion, I nodded.

Seeing this as permission to continue, Virion wrapped up his explanation.

"In any case, with the amount that you're leaking coupled with the amount that you absorb naturally, it should reach a kind of equilibrium, and you should also be able to avoid Backlash. Basically, though you can't use as much power as you normally could, you won't die, and your body and core should be more than enough to handle the power you have now."

A brief pause filled the room after his lengthy explanation.

"…Well, since you're alright now, let's go back to training."

What? Training? Didn't I almost die?

I looked over to Alea, but she nodded in agreement.

Was this normal? This wasn't Spartan camp.

"Come on."

Virion and Alea pulled me out of my bed despite my desperate struggles.