NoveLight ™
Chapter 4
When Leon opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a dense forest.
He stood in the middle of a space filled with closely packed trees.
When he blinked, he realized he was in the heart of the forest, and he looked around in a daze.
Leon quickly noticed something strange.
Breathing was difficult.
It felt as if the air was heavy.
“Huh?”
That wasn’t all.
After inhaling and exhaling once, he felt strangely refreshed.
It was as if even his mind was clearer.
Leon soon realized that this space was incredibly rich in mana.
Even though he hadn't fully awakened to mana, he could feel it.
Breathing in the heavy air made his head feel clear?
The only explanation was a high concentration of mana.
“Did I enter the space inside the orb?”
Leon briefly thought about exiting the space.
In an instant, his consciousness flickered, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in the dormitory.
“What the…”
Goosebumps rose on Leon’s arms due to the bizarre phenomenon.
Returning to the space inside the orb, he began walking slowly, wondering how large the dense forest was.
After walking in one direction for about an hour, he couldn’t see an end to it.
Realizing he couldn’t confirm its size by simply walking, he exited the orb.
The number on the orb had decreased.
[39]
He had spent an hour inside the space of the orb.
“So the number represents time!”
Every time he completed a quest, he received time to use the space within the orb.
Leon immediately began conducting various experiments with the orb.
First, he wanted to check if only his consciousness was drawn into the space inside the orb.
Leon flipped a copper coin above his head and quickly entered the space inside the orb.
After waiting inside for about 30 seconds, he exited again.
Thunk—
Feeling the coin drop on his head, Leon looked puzzled.
He intended to check if his body disappeared into the space inside the orb after flipping a coin over his head, but the result was different from what he expected.
Leon had spent more than 30 seconds inside the orb’s space.
But the coin dropping on his head immediately upon exiting meant that time flowed differently.
Leon checked the time in reality and then entered the orb’s space again.
Sitting in the middle of the forest, he began practicing the basic breathing technique.
He planned to examine two things.
How differently time flowed and whether quests progressed within this space.
After an hour of filling the surroundings with his breaths, Leon opened his eyes and exited the orb’s space.
Only 1 minute had passed.
In reality, 1 minute had passed while 1 hour flowed inside the orb’s space.
As for the quest...
Unfortunately, it hadn’t progressed.
It seemed that only training in reality was acknowledged, and completing quests granted time to use the orb’s space.
Of course, if training inside the orb’s space were recognized, it would essentially be duplicating time.
Leon was satisfied enough.
Even with this alone, he could increase his training efficiency by several—no, hundreds—of times.
Just moments ago, he had been worried about not finding a place for mana training.
Leon flipped the coin above his head again and entered the orb.
After training for another hour, he came out.
In reality, 1 minute had passed by that time.
Leon scanned the area to find the coin that must have already fallen.
Not seeing it, he lifted his hips and found the coin beneath him.
This confirmed that his actual body entered the orb’s space.
Having somewhat understood the orb’s abilities, Leon began to reorganize his training plans.
Leon was sitting cross-legged on a chair in the quiet library, breathing and concentrating to sense mana.
Naturally, he couldn’t feel anything.
Compared to meditating in the orb’s space, it felt frustrating.
It was natural to parallel training in reality to fulfill the quest requirements, but it wasn’t solely for that reason.
Training with the minuscule amount of mana in reality surprisingly had its effects.
The effects weren’t immediately apparent, but when he moved to the orb’s space after feeling frustrated here, his senses became more pronounced due to the change.
He still felt a vague sense of something being within reach, but the important thing was that it felt within reach.
He had a hunch that he would soon be able to perceive mana.
Three days passed as Leon alternated between training in reality and the orb’s space.
When he habitually spun the reward gacha at the end of his daily routine, Leon jumped up from his seat upon seeing the stopped reward content.
“It’s here!!!”
▶ You have acquired Tri-element Affinity (Water, Wind, Earth) (Apply/Cancel)
Was this what it felt like for dopamine to surge?
Although it wasn’t on the level of having light and dark affinities or the Six-element Affinity, which could possess all six basic elements, the Tri-element Affinity was still considered an extraordinary talent.
Since elemental affinity itself was regarded as talent, it meant his talent for mana itself increased.
Leon immediately pressed apply.
It had been a while since he felt like checking his status window.
Since he hadn’t yet awakened to mana, his rank and mana quality weren’t displayed, but just seeing the elemental affinity brought a smile to his face.
“Now I can proudly say that I’m no longer an ordinary person but have the talent of a magician!”
Leon, who had been fidgeting in the dormitory lounge, entered the orb’s space.
Then he immediately assumed a cross-legged position.
Inhaling deeply, he focused on the breath entering his body and followed the flow of air swirling inside.
After concentrating on his breath for a while, Leon opened his eyes.
“It’s definitely different.”
The feeling of having awakened a sixth sense heightened Leon’s concentration.
He continued training for another 6 hours.
Though he didn’t immediately awaken to mana, he was now certain that it was really close.
Leon exited the orb’s space.
The time displayed on the orb was 43.
He was using it for 6 hours every day.
Initially, he considered pouring all the time he accumulated into a single day of training for 10 hours, but he was saving it for a more efficient point.
He even slept in reality.
While time efficiency was better inside the orb, the mana efficiency was overwhelmingly superior in the orb’s space, so it felt like a waste to spend time sleeping there.
“Oh, right.”
He hadn’t properly checked due to being distracted by the reward, but there was a change in the quest window.
General Quest
▶ Mana Perception Training (0/10)
Breakthrough Quest
▶ Awaken Mana (In Progress)
The general quest remained the same, but a breakthrough quest had appeared.
The content indicated that he was indeed close to awakening mana.
Leon decided to change his reward choice as well.
There were still many better affinities left, but he thought it was time to explore other rewards.
Leon selected an elixir.
While affinities had to be discarded if something useless appeared, an elixir, regardless of its quality, would still be an elixir, so it seemed that it would somehow help him, still at a beginner level.
He briefly considered a magic book, but he judged it wasn’t urgent yet.
Lower-level magic that a tri-element affinity could handle?
He could find that in the magical library where he worked.
Although they were outdated by modern magic standards, they would still be useful right after awakening mana.
Of course, he needed permission from the old man in charge to read the library’s books.
Returning to his dorm room, Leon went to bed and looked for the old man the next morning as soon as he got to work.
When he knocked on the door, the old man opened it immediately.
He never let Leon into his room.
“What do you want?”
“I came to seek your permission for something.”
A look of curiosity appeared on the old man’s face.
Leon hadn’t asked for anything for days.
Suddenly seeking permission might have felt unexpected.
“May I read the magic books in the library? Of course, I mean the ones on the first floor. I won’t go near the second floor.”
The old man, who had been staring intently at Leon, then smiled kindly.
“I guess you’re bored with nothing to do.”
“Oh… yes.”
The old man stroked his chin for a moment before speaking.
“I’ll let you read them if you do one task for me. I’m even willing to give you contribution points. How about it?”
“What kind of task?”
Leon asked cautiously.
“I thought you’d accept immediately, but you’re quite prudent. Hmm... it’s more of an errand than a task. If you go out to the main gate and head a bit left to the outskirts, you’ll find a mountain managed by Wydia. You just need to dig up a few herbs I’ll specify. It’s a safe area, so you should be able to do it.”
Leon was considering investigating the mountain before accepting, but he pushed that thought aside.
Being overly cautious wasn’t helping him at the moment.
Being needlessly cautious might even rub people the wrong way.
“I understand. If you write them down, I’ll gather them. By when should I collect them all?”
“They’re herbs you can find easily at the entrance, so it should take two days. Ah, you know you have to do this after work, right?”
Leon, who knew that much, nodded, and the old man told him to wait for a moment before going back into his room.
Five minutes later, the old man returned and handed Leon a piece of paper.
It contained the names of a few herbs and simple drawings.
“They’re ingredients for making an elixir, so make sure to carefully dig them out from the roots to the leaves.”
Leon thought that if it was a mountain managed for elixir ingredients, it would indeed be safe.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Leon turned to go back to where he was before.
As he did so, the old man’s eyes, which had been watching him leave, quietly sank.
The kindly raised corners of his mouth hardened.
At that moment.
Leon turned back around.
He was about to ask if he needed some sort of confirmation from the old man since it was a place for elixir ingredients.
The old man’s face quickly returned to normal.
Leon looked at the old man’s face for a moment but then spoke nonchalantly without staring for long.
“I think I’ll need a confirmation.”
“I’ll give you a token.”
“Understood.”
Leon turned back around.
The old man went into his room without further looking at Leon’s retreating back.
After finishing work, Leon did mana perception training for 2 hours, then left the room as the dormitory residents returned.
For two days, he planned to reduce his sleep time to gather herbs.
He briefly regretted that the task seemed to require quite a bit of time over two days.
But that thought quickly faded.
If he couldn’t use the old magical library, he would have to change his planned reward system, and more importantly…
He had a good idea.
A space inside the orb with a high concentration of mana.
What if he grew herbs there?