Chapter 145: 3 Star (6)

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“……Uyaat?!”

Carl infused divinity into the thin thread connected to Laysis.

At the same time, Laysis straightened her back stiffly and let out a strange scream.

Her body tensed as if electrocuted, with only her fingertips trembling slightly.

“Laysis?!”

Carl panicked and checked her condition.

He had only lightly sent divinity as an experiment to see how it would react, but he never expected such a response.

Approaching her half-petrified body, he checked her eyes.

‘……This light.’

Unlike him, Laysis had not obtained divinity.

But what in the world was this dazzling white brilliance swirling in her eyes?

“Huh?”

Laysis also seemed to realize it belatedly, moving her body and touching her own face and torso.

“What is this?”

“Laysis.”

Carl stretched out his hand, firmly grabbed her shoulder, and met her gaze.

“How is your body? Do you feel any discomfort or dizziness?”

“Huh? I don’t feel anything like that……”

“Do you feel the power lingering within your body right now?”

“……Yes.”

Laysis nodded.

It was an energy strikingly similar to the one she had felt when the Demigod Kylos had entered her body.

As royalty, she had encountered divine power several times, so it wasn’t difficult for her to identify it.

“How did this happen?”

“……”

Carl narrowed his eyes as he observed the divinity lingering within her body.

“You remember that I absorbed Kylos’ divinity.”

“Yes.”

“So I gained a portion of his divinity and was able to use it like this.”

“You showed me.”

“Most likely, that’s the reason. It seems I unintentionally created something like a follower who can receive my power, just like the other gods……”

“You’re saying I became Carl’s follower?”

Laysis widened her eyes in shock as she asked back.

So, the strange phenomenon that began in that mysterious space had been the process of connecting with Carl?

Carl thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“It’s not as perfect as the relationship between a god and a follower. I only absorbed part of the divinity, and my connection with Laysis is incomplete. Strictly speaking, it’s more like a parasite.”

“Wait, did you just call me a parasite?”

“That was a joke. I just meant that’s one way to compare it.”

Carl let out a small laugh and shrugged.

Even he thought it was a rather fitting metaphor.

Since she knew it was a joke, Laysis also chuckled softly.

Vmmmmm.

A bright blue energy surged above her outstretched arm.

That power moved freely, mixing with mana, without causing any discomfort as it coursed through her body.

Laysis had done it thoughtlessly, but Carl, watching right beside her, could not help being surprised.

“You combined it with mana?”

“Yes, they can be used together. If I get used to it, I think I could even blend them.”

“……How?”

“Huh?”

This time it was Laysis who looked flustered at Carl’s question.

It just happened naturally, so how could she explain the “how” of it?

“Divinity and mana are opposites, are they not?”

“They are, right?”

“Then how did you…….”

“Ah.”

Laysis looked down at her hand.

The divinity and mana, blended together like paints of different colors, entered her vision.

“That’s… true, isn’t it?”

Tilting her head in puzzlement, Laysis spoke in confusion.

Watching her, Carl narrowed his eyes.

Now he had gained yet another reason why he absolutely needed to recruit Laysis.

“……A way to combine divinity and mana?”

During their long-delayed magic study session, Yuria tilted her head at Carl’s question.

They had already finished today’s assigned research on the “Four Seasons,” the main topic.

Normally, they would either chat or have mock magic duels until the next session.

Today seemed to be the chatting kind, as Yuria leaned comfortably in her chair and looked at Carl.

“That’s out of nowhere. Did you perhaps discover something during the external expedition?”

“……Hmm.”

Carl hesitated for a moment.

It seemed Laysis had kept her promise and hadn’t told anyone else about it.

Unlike Laysis, he had no such bond with Yuria.

Moreover, while Laysis was free except for ties to the Kingdom of Alforam, Yuria had the solid backing of the Gray Magic Tower.

‘In other words, the priorities are clear.’

Someone impossible to recruit.

But Carl still wanted to hear the opinion of this genius magician, so he cautiously asked.

Among the executives of NOX there were outstanding magicians, but Yuria’s case was exceptional.

“This is something only Laysis knows. I asked her not to tell anyone, so I am keeping it secret even from you, Lady Yuria.”

“So there was something after all.”

Yuria’s eyes gleamed.

Truthfully, she had already sensed it.

Laysis had clumsily claimed she had obtained some wealth or jewels, but Yuria never believed that Carl would return with something so trivial.

That was why she had shown him Refri’s Key first, though Carl had shown little reaction.

‘So he really was hiding something. What could he have gotten? A map? Or maybe a seed?’

A seed would be ideal.

If he didn’t know its value, she was willing to buy it at a high price.

Because once acquired, a seed manifested effects so outrageous that it was considered a masterpiece.

That was why Yuria looked at Carl with a face full of anticipation.

“This is it.”

But instead of what she expected, Carl held out his empty hand.

Just as Yuria tilted her head at the sight of his palm, a brilliant blue light suddenly flared up from it.

“……Oh.”

For a brief moment, Yuria’s mind went completely blank.

Because what she saw was so different from what she had expected, her thoughts had momentarily frozen.

“Divine power?”

It wasn’t the universally seen pure-white divinity.

Though tinged with a faint bluish hue, it was unmistakably divine power.

“Did you perhaps obtain a relic or another artifact?”

“No. What I obtained there was this power itself.”

“You’re saying you acquired divinity? Do you think that even makes sense?”

Yuria furrowed her brow.

That was a statement that denied common sense.

Possessing one’s own inherent divinity only occurred after at least reaching the level of a Demigod.

At least within the scope of her knowledge, there were no exceptions.

“Are you familiar with the existence known as the Demigod Kylos?”

“I know of him.”

Yuria nodded.

There was no player who didn’t know a major character involved in the main story.

“Kylos was defeated by the Ancient Hero, and his divinity was shattered and sealed across the continent. The ruin I investigated also contained a fragment of him.”

“……Don’t tell me, beneath that Gargoyle Statue?”

“Yes. It was quite the ordeal. Had things gone wrong, both Laysis and I would have died.”

Carl gave a bitter smile and rubbed the back of his neck.

Thinking about it now, it really had been reckless.

Though it had turned out well thanks to drawing him into the Space of Mental Imagery, he had taken far too many gambles without thinking them through.

“I defeated the Demigod Kylos and absorbed a portion of his divinity. That must be why I can use divine power.”

“But this doesn’t look like something that was granted to you.”

“The source originated from Kylos, but it seems to have adapted to me and is slowly changing. Compared to when I first obtained it, the color has lightened.”

Still, he kept the part involving Laysis a secret.

There was no obligation to reveal everything.

“So, is there a way to combine divinity and mana?”

The conversation circled back to the original question.

Yuria crossed her arms and sank into thought.

‘So it wasn’t a seed or a map. Did I perhaps get mine first, and the other two lost their chance to obtain one?’

It didn’t seem Carl had known about Kylos beforehand and gone to the Gargoyle Statue deliberately.

According to Laysis, they had been digging around the surrounding land when they stumbled upon that passage purely by chance.

And surely, if he really didn’t know, that was why he was asking even her about it.

‘How much should I say?’

Yuria brushed her bangs as she pondered.

She had some general knowledge regarding divinity.

After studying as a magician of the Magic Tower, she had once considered building toward becoming a priest.

“Divine power and mana are opposites, but it’s not that they can never mix.”

“They’re not entirely incompatible?”

“Right. In fact, there are extremely rare cases of people who can use both mana and divinity. One in a million, no, maybe one in ten million. An irregular.”

Carl pressed his lips shut.

He hadn’t expected to find such an irregular right beside him.

“And originally, mana and divinity both sprang from the same source.”

“You mean they were once one?”

“More precisely, their origin is the same. Have you ever heard of Ether?”

“This is my first time hearing of it.”

Carl shook his head.

“Of course. Very few people know about it.”

“Is it one of the hypotheses?”

“Not exactly a hypothesis… but let’s just say it is. You don’t have to believe it.”

Carl nodded.

She had said he didn’t need to believe it, but Yuria didn’t seem like the type to lie.

‘She often spoke from a fresh perspective.’

He frequently sensed something different about her compared to ordinary magicians.

Whether it was simply a difference in viewpoint, or whether it came from her sheer genius, he didn’t know.

“All power in the world originates from Ether. Mana, divinity, spirits, even demonic energy from demons or devils.”

“Then where does that Ether come from?”

“I don’t know. It simply existed from the beginning. Ah, don’t mention this outside, okay? The Holy Nation would foam at the mouth and rush at you. You might even be interrogated by an Inquisitor.”

“Understood.”

Carl quietly nodded.

There was no reason to spread it anyway.

“Anyway, back to the original point.”

Yuria stretched her hand lightly into the air.

“The origin is Ether. From there, through various processes, it transforms into different forms. The mana I possess as a magician, and the divinity you wield, Carl. Even aura could be counted as one branch. In theory, if you could reverse the process and return it to the source, then you could recombine them.”

“But that isn’t truly combining the two, is it?”

“Hmm, I suppose not?”

If you stripped away their processed nature and converted them back into Ether, then merging them would lose the meaning of truly uniting both.

‘But the Primordial Unity Divine Art is different.’

It had merged energies without discarding their nature, reaching a singularity.

‘Why is it that the Divine Art can achieve it, but other methods cannot?’

Carl froze in place, sinking deep into thought.

He forgot Yuria’s presence, even forgetting where he was.

“So…….”

Yuria also noticed.

She stopped mid-sentence, narrowed her eyes, and looked at Carl’s state.

‘What is this?’

The light had vanished from Carl’s eyes.

It meant he had immersed himself in inner thought, the kind of state one often reached at the moment of enlightenment.

Of course, this was not something that happened at ordinary levels.

‘……That’s fine and all, but why in my lab of all places?’

With a mountain of tasks still left to complete, Yuria looked at Carl with a troubled expression.

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