The water and sky were one, silent and still.
Elias looked down at the circuit beneath his feet.
He no longer dwelled on what this place actually was.
Those silver lines shimmered beneath the clear water.
"So... how do I use this thing?"
Elias was lost in thought, trying to use his meager occult knowledge to understand this surreal scene.
However, his body was more honest than his mind.
Without any warning.
The massive spirituality from before, like a flood that had found an outlet, suddenly erupted from every pore of his body.
In this moment, he felt he was no longer a person of flesh and blood, but a luminous entity composed of pure spirituality.
Even across that unspeakable barrier of consciousness, he could faintly hear Edmond's shocked voice coming from high above in the distant sky:
"By the Moon Lord... such massive spirituality!"
Elias had no time to mind Old Ed's amazement.
The spirituality surging through him did not dissipate into the air; instead, it rapidly condensed, transforming into transparent tentacles.
They nimbly pierced the seemingly calm surface of the water beneath his feet, extending straight toward the complex geometric lines deep at the bottom.
It was a magnificent sight.
"Hum—"
The moment the first spiritual tentacle touched those silver lines, a low, soul-piercing hum exploded within the silent space.
Immediately after.
The underwater circuit was lit up.
The silver light that had been merely flickering faintly erupted into a dazzling radiance the instant it made contact with Elias's massive spirituality.
Like neon tubes being powered on, the light raced along those complex geometric patterns.
One, two, a hundred...
The continuously flowing spirituality acted like high-purity fuel, frantically surging through the various Rational Circuits.
Those lines began to spread from beneath his feet, branching, converging, and branching again.
They extended all the way to the horizon at the edge of his vision.
Elias felt his consciousness extending infinitely along with those lights.
Wherever his spirituality reached, he could perceive everything in its entirety.
He felt as if he were no longer an individual confined within a shell, but had become part of this colossal network.
For a brief moment.
A few of the furthest-reaching spiritual tentacles even broke through a certain boundary, touching a gargantuan entity filled with endless information.
The thing Old Ed had spoken of—the Origin Web.
The sensation of that moment was difficult to describe in words.
A massive stream of information began to flow back along specific Rational Circuits.
At the same time.
Along that ubiquitous Origin Web, he could also perceive an existence hanging high above the spirit world, an unknown distance away—the Moon.
It was not a physical entity, but a concept.
A concept that was cold, defensive, and brimming with mystery.
That information followed various circuits like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, finally transmitting into his consciousness.
"Ugh!"
Elias let out a muffled groan.
His brain instantly overloaded.
This wasn't learning; this was an initiation!
A massive flow of information suddenly appeared in his mind; it was the construction circuits for various spells.
They didn't require rote memorization; instead, they were imprinted in his mind like instinct.
It was as if he were born knowing how to breathe or blink.
As long as he willed it, as long as his spirituality touched those already constructed circuits, these spells could be activated instantly.
【Darkvision】, 【Moonlight Veil】, 【Malice Perception】, 【Moonlight Blessing】...
Nine spells in total!
Elias was dumbfounded.
'Does everyone else get this many?'
He asked himself this soul-searching question.
This wasn't scientific at all!
'If that's the case...'
Elias suddenly thought of a very serious problem.
'Doesn't that mean Old Ed is stronger than I thought?'
After all, that old fellow was a Scale Two, and judging by his boasting tone, he had prepared many good things back then to advance to Scale Three.
If Scale One provided nine spells, how many would Scale Two have?
To be honest, he was really a bit reluctant to admit it!
At the thought that the old fossil, whom he usually left speechless with his rebuttals, was actually a hidden powerhouse, he felt a bit awkward.
While he was lost in thought.
As the spiritual tentacles extending in all directions gradually returned to his body along the Rational Circuits, the massive surge of spirituality finally began to subside.
Everything settled.
The underwater light gradually faded.
Elias felt a wave of intense dizziness wash over him.
His consciousness was suddenly pulled away from that world where the water and sky were one.
His vision spun.
Darkness.
Endless darkness.
...
Elias struggled to open his heavy eyelids.
Before his eyes was the familiar night sky and the waning moon hanging at the horizon.
Beneath him was the painfully hard gravel ground, and the sea breeze, carrying a fishy scent, brushed against his face.
He was back.
That sense of reality from having his feet on solid ground made him let out a long sigh of relief.
He moved his stiff neck and felt a moist coolness on his cheeks.
He instinctively reached up to wipe it.
Water?
These are... tears?
Elias was stunned.
He had cried?
Why?
"Edmond? God, how long has it been?"
he asked in a hoarse voice.
"You're finally awake!"
Old Ed's voice sounded full of relief, as if he had just survived a disaster.
"Twenty minutes!"
"Do you know what I went through during those twenty minutes?!"
"Twenty minutes?"
Elias rubbed his temples, feeling a bit dazed.
"It's only been twenty minutes and you're out here acting like it's the end of the world?"
It felt like he had been in there for a long time, yet so little time had passed outside?
"Only twenty minutes?!"
Edmond's voice rose an octave.
"When others advance to Scale One, it usually takes only five minutes!"
"You were out for a full twenty minutes!"
"Wait! Hold on a second!"
Edmond suddenly realized that Elias seemed to know what he had been doing outside.
"You could hear me and you didn't wake up? Are you just lazy?"
"Old Ed, your mouth is like it's been dipped in poison."
Elias pushed himself up from the ground.
"Was it that I didn't want to wake up? I couldn't!"
Edmond was clearly taken aback.
The voice in his mind went silent for two seconds.
"What kind of situation was that?"
he asked somewhat suspiciously.
"Normal advancement rituals might involve some disorientation, but not to this extent."
"Forget it, whatever."
The old man quickly let it go.
"First, tell me, what did you see?"
"The Audience! What imagery did you see?"
Elias stood up, brushed the dirt off his pants, and straightened his collar which had been tousled by the sea breeze.
"Old man, do you have any sense of privacy?"
he said irritably.
"This is like I just had a very private dream, and you insist on hovering over my bed asking which girl I dreamed about. That's perverted, you know?"
"Pal!"
Edmond retorted righteously.
"You were just sitting there and suddenly you keeled over and started crying."
"If I didn't know you had taken the potion, I would've thought you were experiencing some tragic romance in your dreams!"
"..."
"Tell me already!"
Edmond urged.
"The tears were probably from being scared!"
Elias wiped the tear tracks from his face, reasoning slightly.
After all, having a little girl who was likely a god point at him and call him out as a transmigrator would give anyone a bit of psychological pressure, right?
However, she didn't seem to care much.
He took a deep breath, a mysterious and slightly boastful expression appearing on his face.
"You really won't believe what I saw!"
"Stop keeping me in suspense! Tell me! I'm dying of curiosity!"
Elias lifted his chin slightly with pride.
Although he didn't know exactly what had gone wrong during the Audience.
The nine tangible spell circuits in his mind couldn't be fake.
And at this moment, as he calmed his mind, his spirituality could clearly perceive the slightest changes in the surrounding environment.
The rhythm of the waves, the flow of the wind.
And the spirituality of various creatures.
This was what it meant to be transcendent!
In any case, he wanted to take the old man down a peg so this fossil wouldn't boast to him every day.
"I saw the Moon Lord!"
He was already prepared for Edmond's shock.
However.
The expected shock from Edmond did not occur.
After a brief silence.
"Hahahahahaha!"
A burst of ear-piercing laughter exploded in his mind.
"Who did you say you saw?"
"The Moon Lord!"
Elias's face darkened.
"Hahahahahaha!"
Edmond laughed even harder; it sounded like he was rolling around in the spirit world space within the bracelet.
"Hahaha! I can't take it!"
"I never heard such a hilarious joke even when I was alive!"
"Did the potion rot your brain, kid?"
"That's just because the people around you weren't humorous!"
Elias snapped in embarrassment and anger.
"And I'm not joking! I'm telling the truth!"
"Alright, alright, the truth, sure."
Edmond brushed him off while still laughing.
"I know I like to boast sometimes."
"But you've really blown this one out of proportion, hahahaha!"
"Young man, you still have a lot to learn from me about boasting!"
This old guy was getting cocky.
"..."
Elias's fists instantly clenched.
"Believe it or not!"
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