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Chapter 63: Light and Darkness
🕑 Added 2025-01-30 18:59:29 +0000 UTCAfter a bit of travelling, it became apparent that even the elder spider didn’t know the way out of these maze-like channels. Thankfully, she did lead us through to their new camp, even if it took a bit more time.
The reason for the delay was that the spider colony we were chasing was also migrating from one place to another, and Serenity had to choose among many false tracks to find the right way.
Those bulbous, ecstatic, flower-like plants shrank in size and luminescence as we finally entered the vicinity of the new camp. Immediately, we found signs of dozens of young spiderlings playing around, with their cobwebs strewn here and there, eventually giving way to a downward channel.
Grey, white, and brown spiderlings littered the channel, all playing by snaring their webs at one another or swinging around in a game of tag. Gravity seemed to have no sway over their movements. I spotted a few copper-rank and iron-rank hidden auras watching over the spiderlings, and they turned up at our arrival.
My golden eyes searched for the spider granny, but I saw no sign of her. I sighed in relief and quickly excused myself.
It was time to find a hole somewhere and do my thing.
Making my way as far from the spiders as possible without drawing suspicion or putting myself in danger, I sought out a solitary place to dig a hole. I did find a few large tears in the walls, but none of them looked comfortable enough for what I was about to do.
Digging was easy, but I had to spend some time organising my things and preparing for a defensive formation when Marvel knocked at the back of my mind.
"You don’t have to prepare for all that," Marvel said. "I have brought this."
With that, she projected a mental image of a cobweb ball filled with complicated scripts that I couldn’t understand without the formation concealing itself.
"What is that?" I asked.
"A formation!"
Of course, it was. Even a blind man could tell you that. Suppressing my annoyance, I asked, "Can you tell me what?"
"Ingesting the Fruit of Light will likely trigger your advancement, so I borrowed it from Solace. It's mostly a Tier-V defensive formation and will ensure you don't call upon any unnecessary eyes."
She expanded the formation all around us, which unfurled like a large flower before camouflaging us completely. It was like a giant spider web, though its creation was far more complicated than what could be seen with the naked eye. I would have liked to study it more if it were any other time. Now, only one thing played on my mind.
"Hmm, you will need more space than that," Marvel said, gazing upon my form. She tinkered with the formation to enlarge it a couple of metres more. "Hopefully, you won’t be so small after the advancement."
"Are you worried about me using you as a ride, Lil’ Marv?" I said, laying out my stuff—food and whatever useful items I had in my inventory—along with the fruit. "Don’t worry, I’ll keep myself small just to ride you."
The spiderling did the equivalent of rolling her eyes at me.
"How long does it take for one to advance again?" I asked.
"For me, it took a couple of hours, though I could have done it within half an hour. Usually, it depends on how impactful the advancement is to one’s path. Since this is going to be your first, it will be more significant than any of the others you will go through." She paused to add, "Perhaps it is only less impactful than reaching the transcendent stage. But that's beyond any of our imagination."
I was about to devour the food whole when Marvel interrupted me once more.
"You need to remember that patience is key. You already have enough essence to level up to the low forties with all the kills you’ve accumulated. No need to be hasty. Just integrate your concept quietly, and the advancement will come naturally."
"Anything else you want to say?" I asked, sparing her a look.
"I will watch over you," Marvel said. "If anything goes wrong, I will call someone who can help."
Expressing my gratitude, I wasted no time calming my trepidation before devouring the divine fruit. The moment it entered my stomach, it melted away into liquid—or rather, a higher form of complex essence—before dissolving into sparks of light, burning through my intestines before sliding its way towards my centre.
I let out a piercing hiss, enforcing all the power of my golden eyes to integrate the essence of light law. It turned out to be an easier job than I had anticipated. My golden eyes practically devoured the essence, integrating all the law in it, leaving me as a mere passenger on this journey.
I barely had to touch the process as an ungodly amount of pain assaulted my reptilian brain. All kinds of insights relating to the law of light flooded into me, and I did not have even the barest amount of time to grasp them all. Time seemed to condense and slow in my consciousness as Grandpa’s voice echoed in my mind.
[You have touched upon the tapestry of the laws of Light]
[One point of fortune is consumed.]
The process wasn’t complete, yet I was delighted to find that it was a success. My golden eyes were still working on something with the law, incorporating it.
[Be aware: your aspect, Golden Eyes, is evolving.]
The more insight flooded my mind, the slower time seemed to move, yet the faster the incorporation progressed.
A blink of an eye turned into hours as I began to understand the process of how light worked. The concept was simple enough but looked impossibly difficult to implement. It wasn’t like hunger, which required simple consumption to manifest.
[You have comprehended the Minor Light Elemental Law of Illumination.]
Illumination felt far more complex. But, as with everything, I started from its core simplicity.
While the power of universal concept surged through my consciousness, another power flooded my mortal form. The divine fruit contained as much light essence as it did non-attuned essence, and more than enough to trigger my advancement.
Now it was time to create the perfect core. I prepared myself for the work ahead.
Thankfully, with the evolving aspect, I had all the insight and knowledge at the tip of my tongue.
****
Marvel watched with curiosity as her new friend underwent the process of advancement. Something strange had happened at the beginning when Shai had attempted to incorporate the concept.
For most creatures, the realisation was instantaneous, even if it took unimaginably long periods of meditation to even glimpse it. But for the serpent before her, it had been over an hour. Throughout the process, her skin and tiny scales glittered in a silvery-gold shade, as though she had eaten a light construct.
As Marvel had imagined, the incorporation had triggered Shai’s advancement. A swirl of essence spun around Shai’s form, lifting her into the air. It almost managed to traverse the formation around them, but Solace’s work was sturdier than it appeared.
Marvel watched with trepidation as Shai formed her core. Though she had hunger as her core concept for the longest time, she incorporated light to be her core identity before trying to introduce hunger into it.
The process seemed to slow when it came to hunger. The second concept began to devour the radiant essence as Shai attempted to harmonise both of them into her core. It was in hunger’s nature to consume anything in its path. Whereas Shai’s comprehension of the Light law hadn’t grown strong enough that she could—
Marvel was jolted by a voice.
"Marvel, we need you." Solace’s voice.
"What?" she asked. "What happened?"
"We are under siege. Quick, they need your help!"
The voice ended there, though the presence remained.
Marvel gave Shai one last look before exiting the formation. It was in an obstructed place, safe enough that Shai shouldn’t encounter any problems in her advancement. It shouldn’t have taken her long, anyway. Not to mention, the formation would protect her from most threats out there.
Halfway down the path, Marvel already caught onto the upheaval in the wake. A chorus of chaos and darkness completely dismantled the general air of the vicinity. Marvel knew the Darkness to be Midnight’s, whereas the Chaos could only be from those abhorrent creatures.
Soon, sinister screeches pierced her senses.
Those forsaken creatures had encircled them from all directions but one, forcing their backs against the wall.
All members above copper rank were already engaged in battle. Even the dull male counterparts of her clan were fighting, directed by Solace, whose figure Marvel could only sense through their link. More such links formed as she joined the fray. Elegy. Serenity. August.
Only Midnight was missing, and Marvel immediately found the reason why. The Silver-ranked guardian was busy casting her [Veil of Darkness]. A vast weave of darkness essence flew in web-like forms before collapsing to form a thick blanket that encompassed the area around the fledglings, protecting them as they evacuated towards the east.
"How can I help?" Marvel asked.
"We don’t need you to fight outside the veil," Elegy’s voice came first. "Help me with evacuation. Lead them to Solace."
That sounded easy enough, she thought, though a few of her eyes glimpsed the battle, and her insides chilled.
All the guardians, even the injured Serenity, were holding the monsters at bay. Midnight’s darkness flowed like a murky tide along the line where the fledglings were running, while the rest of the clan fought off the creatures. Serenity prevented anything from getting too close to the spiderlings’ path.
At the same time, Elegy stood at the very forefront, leading the group, keeping the fledglings’ infant minds protected from the chaotic aura.
