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Chapter 321: A New Light

Within the blackness of the Great Blue, I hovered in the air. So close to the spire, I could feel that the mana was far more dense here. It was being drawn in from the entire floor, so it was only natural.

I took a deep breath, and fully released my entire Keeper power, my body filling with energy. At this point, I wasn’t concerned about whether or not they were able to detect me. If anything, it would only be better if they did. Though… given that nearly everyone in this floor was the equivalent of level one, I didn’t expect that to happen either way.

Just how many people will suddenly get massive level increases when this thing is repaired? I mused idly while gathering my mana. There was an obvious pull, drawing my energy towards the crystal. For now, I held back, keeping my energy to myself.

I imagine that there will probably be several people that rise to meet the new level limit. Leowynn commented from within my spirit. They have trained even harder than normal for their entire lives to make up the difference.

Especially the mages… I agreed easily, nodding my head. There was a limit to how much a warrior’s muscles could strengthen on their own. No matter how hard they tried, a level one human could never have the same physical strength of a fit level one hundred warrior, unless they were relying on some other tricks.

Mages, on the other hand… They were able to slowly train up their mana through constant work and study. I saw myself that Katrina had been able to cast second tier rune magic, despite having never been able to gain any levels as a mage since birth. Of course, her ‘blighted’ condition likely helped with that, but it still showed how much she had trained to get that far.

Even without the disorder caused originally due to the spire being destroyed, it was likely that mages still would have ended up being the ruling party in the Great Blue. Though it did make me question something else, as well… would these mages who have trained manually for so many years have a stat buff to their mana to represent that growth? Maybe they would even be awarded achievements for it.

I felt a small prick of pain in the back of my mind as I thought about that, my mana beginning to run low. In my hands, there was now a glowing blue sphere, lightly hovering above my palms. This sphere represented the vast majority of my mana as a Keeper. Almost one and a half million units of mana, as much as forty high level mages pouring their entire energy into it.

Lowering my hands, I willed the energy to move towards the spire, which greedily began to absorb it. The entire crystal seemed to glow, shedding a faint blue light as it rose at a visible pace. Where it had previously only gained a few inches every day, now it was shooting up at a speed of meters every second.

However, even my full mana didn’t seem like it’d be enough to completely finish the job. The mana spire rose up into the sky, but still seemed roughly a hundred meters short of connecting to the ceiling of the Great Blue. I was just about to head back to the Admin Room to rest, and allow my mana to recharge when Leowynn spoke up again.

Is it my turn, now? She asked softly. I watched as the grey mist that formed Leowynn’s body slowly seeped out of my own, congealing nearby. “We might as well finish this while we’re here, right?” Leowynn asked with a small smile.

It was only then that I remembered that spiritual energy could be converted into mana. And with Leowynn’s spirit linked to my own, that meant that she had a similarly massive strength to draw from. I gave another look at the pillar, wondering if her strength was enough to finish the job without hurting her.

“I can do it, father.” She assured me, before turning to face the giant blue crystal. Her hands folded over her chest, her eyes closing. The stars on her black dress began to shine as she focused.

There was no chant for what she was doing, only a faint narrowing of her eyebrows. When she pulled her hands away from her chest, there was a shimmering blue orb between them, much like the one that I had recently created. Though it was smaller and dimmer, containing only about two thirds the mana, it was still more than enough to finish repairing the pillar.

“Let there be light.” She declared, sending her own mana into the pillar just as I had recently. When her mana sphere collided with the crystal surface, it once again began to glow brightly. This time, it easily reached its full height.

Not only that, but the glow of the pillar pulsed, sending out a burst of light that covered the sky. For the first time in nearly a hundred years, daylight filled the Great Blue.

Congratulations! You have earned a personal achievement!

For creating and then resolving a disaster that reshaped society, you have earned the Beginning and End achievement. +30 points, Disaster Warning system upgraded.

Thankfully… at least I didn’t have to ask Terra what this new upgrade meant, as it was fairly self explanatory. With the warning system upgraded, hopefully I’d get a bit more time to respond before things become too desperate in the future. Either way, it was clearly a benefit for me.

Leowynn glanced towards me, a tired look on her face. She was clearly unharmed, but she had used a lot of her energy to create that last burst of mana. “I’m going to take a nap now, I think.” She said with a low yawn, her form becoming blurry. Her body dissipated into grey smoke, which once again rushed into my body, leaving me alone in the sky.

I simply nodded towards where she had been hovering a moment ago, and willed myself back to the Admin Room. I wanted to see the changes that had taken place, now that the spire was repaired.

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There was a sharp hiss of pain that filled the city, people quickly raising their hands to cover their eyes. Most of them had never seen a light so bright in their lives. Those that had, did so typically because they came from a different floor, ignoring the Council’s ban on travel. Suddenly, though, their vision was filled with this bright light.

“Day…?” A young halfling spoke up, his hands covering his pale face. “Mommy, is that…”

“I think so.” The boy’s mother stood next to him, nodding as she too covered her eyes.

Elsewhere in the city, people were finding themselves shocked for other reasons. Dawn finally came after the long night, but that was not what had people the most amazed. Naturally, since they had been trapped in this world without the system, they had never seen the interface. But suddenly, windows were appearing in front of them en masse, their bodies flooding with a strength they never knew.

Some people gained two, even three hundred levels in a matter of moments, their actions throughout their entire lives quantified within the system. They were chefs, mages, sculptors, warriors, scholars. The concept of a Maxer hadn’t existed within the Great Blue since the night began, so people were no longer able to focus purely on one class to train.

Naturally, this sudden burst of power caused the mana in the air to rise by hundreds of times. It was only a matter of time until a siphon was triggered, yet nobody seemed to be able to realize this fact. Not because they were not smart enough to put the pieces together, but because their shock was simply too great.

Throughout the entire floor, the eight cities of man fueled one massive mana siphon. But this was not a dreadful siphon, like the one that had nearly destroyed the city of Gate’s Rest. No, this was created through the relief and joy of everyone at seeing their first light of day, the shock of a sudden growth.

When man utterly feared the dark, the fiends of shadows were born. And now that they were rejoicing the light, something else was born as well. A heavenly hymn seemed to echo through the air, streams of light gathering in the sky in hundreds, maybe even thousands of locations.

The mana in the air plummeted, the points of light growing into large spheres. Then, from every sphere stepped a person. Their body gave off a faint glow, their eyes shining like stars. Their skin was not the same pale as the people below had come to know from being in the dark their entire lives, but was rather bore a healthy tan. Behind their backs were wings that seemed to be born from light itself, not bearing any true physical presence that one could see.

Among those born in this way, all of them were adults, though such a fact was not evident at first. There were many that looked as if they were human children, but those with trained eyes soon noticed that they bore a stronger resemblance to halfling. Still others looked as if they were the dovah, the main difference being that their fur was shining a brilliant white.

A race of being born purely from the joy and shock of those below, it was only natural that these beings all wore smiles on their faces as they descended to the ground. As they were created out of the mana of over a hundred thousand creatures, they did not have the minds of those born mere moments ago.

When they landed on the ground, people became distinctly aware that these new beings cast no shadow. Perhaps it was because they were the ones giving off their own light, or some mystical quality of their very nature. As one, they each walked to the person nearest to them when they landed. Their hands clasped together respectfully, their eyes closing as they offered a small bow. And as one, they all spoke the same first words.

“Please grant us a name.” Their minds were not linked, but they had no personal identity. Even worse, their entire race had no title. They were a spontaneous birth from mana, an entire race created with a whole new awareness.

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“That… that… that’s not normal, right?” I asked into the empty room, looking at the race that had been created and now occupied the Great Blue. Although they might not know their own name, the system had assigned one for them, making me aware that this was not likely the first time that something like this had occurred. They were the Lightborn.

Going through their racial features, I saw that they had a number of abilities. Light Manipulation, Shadow Bane, Thought Formed… Perhaps the most surprising thing was that their physical abilities were fairly weak. Much lower than what a creature should be able to survive the nineteenth floor with. Their stats looked closer to those of a human, though their comprehension and awareness were considerably higher.

If I wanted to purchase their race, it would only cost me a hundred and eighty points. Rather high for a race with such low stats, but that was likely due to their three special qualities. Aurivy, Bihena, any reason that I shouldn’t buy the light angels that were just born in Fyor?

Although I was of the opinion that I should get them, it was after all the world governed by the two of them. I felt as if I should leave the final decision with the two goddesses. Please do! Aurivy called back excitedly a moment later.

I see no reason not to. Bihena spoke, though I could sense a distinctly pleased tone to her thoughts.

With that out of the way, I spent the points to purchase the Lightborn. To my surprise, their orb was not created in some far off corner of the floor. Rather, a stream of blue light shone out from the mana spire, shooting in a high arc before striking one of the Lightborn. He shuddered in shock, his eyes going wide. A moment later, a blue, crystal sphere formed in his palm. In the presence of those who have lived here for so long, the birth of a racial orb was plainly witnessed.