Chapter 129: Becoming Light

"Why are you even here?"

"I’m looking for Regis too..."

Killian couldn’t help but smile wryly as he looked at Pandora’s annoyed expression.

’I wonder why she’s always angry at me...’

He noticed that there had never been a time where she wasn’t annoyed when with him.

’Strange, I don’t remember doing anything to her...’ Looking at her back, Killian couldn’t help but think in confusion.

The two of them soon reached the Training Grounds after a few minutes of walking in awkward silence.

However, Pandora and Killian had just opened the door when they were met with a blinding light.

It was like being hit by a flashbang.

Minus the bang, while the flash is multiplied by more than a hundred times.

"What the hell!?"

Killian couldn’t help but curse out loud as he hurriedly shut his eyes off.

Pandora used her hand in order to shield her eyes as she grew more worried due to the strange phenomenon.

***

At this moment, Regis felt every fiber of his being getting torn apart.

’What the hell!?’

While in the midst of endless light, he remembered the "horror stories" that Alexis had told him about the book beforehand.

The stories of holy knights attempting to learn Lux Aeterna meeting their respective not so graceful ends flashed in his mind.

’Is this why their bodies suddenly burst into mists of blood!?’

Regis was on the verge of going crazy as he felt his cells slowly being separated from each other.

He could also feel the light attribute aura circulating inside his body.

However, the light power of the book, Lux Aeterna, and the light power that originated from his aura star clashed inside his body.

The connection that had been established seemed to be getting stronger as time passed by.

In the midst of endless light, a worn out book could be seen slowly turning to white light.

It took a few seconds before the book fully turned into sparkles of light and entered the glowing aura star in Regis’s heart.

Together with this, the pain of being torn apart suddenly increased.

"ARGHHHHH—"

Regis let out a screech as he subconsciously clawed at his chest.

He couldn’t even begin to form a thought as the pain overwhelmed his senses, making it hard for him to even breath.

Fortunately, the pain soon started to subside and faded completely in the next moment.

’Thank goodness I have my Perfect Adaptation...’ Regis breathed heavily as he thought to himself.

Coupled with the activation of his gift, the only remaining feeling in him right now was the ever growing power inside his aura star.

The stimulation caused his body to emit a slight white glow.

The sea of white light also started to fade, slowly being absorbed in his heart.

Regis could also instinctively sense that there was incomprehensible memory that had appeared in his mind.

It is impossible for anything with mass to reach the speed of light, as coming even remotely close to it would require infinite energy...

Light is an ethereal element for it is outside the jurisdiction of time...

...Fill every fiber of your being with light and explode it within your cells...

Only then could you utilize the full power of the light affinity that was tied to your very life itself.

To reach the speed of light, you must become light itself. Become light, the personification of speed that not even time could control...

’What the hell is this?’ Regis had a dumbfounded expression on his face.

As someone from the slums who did not even have an ounce of exposure towards science and magic, the words that appeared in his mind was something he could not even begin to understand.

Therefore, there was nothing he could do but clutch his head with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

After a while, the exhaustion that filled his body started to fade.

Opening his eyes, Regis started to look around him with a frown, ’Something... feels wrong. Though I can’t quite put my fingers on it.’

Slowly standing up from the ground, the strangeness of the atmosphere caused his frown to deepen.

"What the hell..." Regis cursed beneath his breath as he kept looking around.

However, his eyes brightened as he saw Pandora and Killian on the door who were covering their eyes.

"Pandora! Killian!" Regis jogged towards them as he called out.

"The light is gone, you can open your eyes now. How are you gu—" He couldn’t finish his words as he saw no reaction from them.

The two only remained in their positions with no signs of movement.

"Guys!?"

Regis tried shouting, but to no avail. It was as if they couldn’t even hear him.

At this moment, he reached out his hand and tried to touch Killian, but was shocked when he saw that his finger was absorbed in his skin.

"Huh?" His mind spiraled into extreme confusion at the phenomenon.

Regis looked down and saw the soft white glow that still covered his body. He then thought for a moment before going to the weapon racks.

Although most of the swords were wooden, there were also ones that were made of metal.

He chose a sword that was made of metal and the most reflective before trying to touch it with his finger again.

Nung—

Regis’s eyes widened as he saw his finger turning into sparkles of light as he made contact with the sword’s reflective surface.

’This...’ He compiled all the information in his mind together with the strange events that unfolded before him and came to a conclusion.

"I’m... light!?"

His mutter was filled with disbelief as he once again became confused.

Regis was a natural prodigy, after all.

He was a boy who was able to learn how to speak and write through observation.

He was a boy who was able to survive in the slums without any parental guidance.

He was a boy who was able to reach where he was through his perseverance.

After all, without his extremely strong will to live, then he wouldn’t have survived being kidnapped by the demonic human.

Heck, he wouldn’t even be able to awaken his Perfect Adaptation in the first place.

Therefore, it was natural that he was able to come up with a logical explanation by examining all the information he had at hand.

For he was born with nothing in this world besides his talent.

A boy forsaken by the world itself at birth.

Regis calmed himself down with deep, steady breaths, "Okay, so what now?"

Without wasting any second, he began to brainstorm the infinite possibilities of his newly gained aura art.

"Since I have become light, it means that I also won’t be able to interact with my surroundings normally."

He then looked around and muttered, "There is also a high chance that time hasn’t stopped."

"Instead, I have become so fast that time looked like it stopped... just like what it said in the memory in my mind."

"It described light as something outside the jurisdiction of time, huh? Interesting..."

A smile blossomed on his lips as he began to think of many ways to utilize this newly found aura art of his.

"It’s a pity that I can’t touch anything—"

At this moment, Regis saw something glowing inside his pocket.

"Wait... could it be...?"

He reached inside before pulling a white slim diamond-shaped object adorned with gold engravings.

It looked incredibly sharp, making it so that he could only hold it on the navy blue leather handle that was wrapped on its lower half.

’The Shard of Tinateria...!’ Regis thought in surprise as he looked at the dagger-like shard.

Since Alexis had intially believed that the book was useless, he decided to let him choose another item from the treasury.

He said that with this favor, he hoped that Regis would consider joining him in the future.

Remembering the look of pain on his face when he took the Shard of Finateria, Regis couldn’t help but shake his head with a smile.

"Hmm, I wonder if..."

The reason why he chose the Shard of Tinateria was because of the connection he felt with it.

Although it was weaker than the strange book, the connection was still there.

Brandishing the dagger in his hand, Regis carefully used it in order to slashe the wall lightly.

WOOSH—

He did not feel even an ounce of resistance as the dagger slashed through the marble wall like a hot knife cutting butter.

’As I have expected!!!’

Joy was apparent on Regis’s face as his guess indeed came true.

However, an awkward expression appeared on his face as he looked at the one meter slash mark he made on the wall.

’I hope Killian won’t be mad...’

Although there were also other sword marks on the wall, his was particularly deep.

After looking around for a while more, Regis walked towards Pandora and Killian who was still frozen in their place.

"Hmmm, it will still be better if I found a way to touch things even in this state..."

Regis thought that with the Shard of Finateria being his only way of interacting in his "light state", then the only thing he could do was kill.

"Well, I shouldn’t be too greedy. At least, I have another trump card now. Let’s just leave it to fate..."