Chapter 250 - 100%

Given the massive scale of a world, the World Will born within it could never be as agile and quick-witted as a human brain, capable of instantly responding to every stimulus it received.

Even so, its basic likes and dislikes were not all that different from those of an ordinary human.

Every individual that existed within it, whether a sentient creature, a tree, a forest, or simply a rock without any consciousness whatsoever, was part of that gigantic collective existence that made up the World Will.

If a world were completely closed off and eternally maintained the same volume of resources and living beings, the World Will would lose the ability to evolve and grow stronger.

Only by diligently maintaining what it already possessed while simultaneously absorbing the resources necessary for its growth from outside its own body could the World Will continue to grow stronger.

As a world of greater scale, the World of Mages had obviously already given birth to its own powerful consciousness. A consciousness that belonged exclusively to it.

As time passed, that consciousness had transformed into the World Will, an existence that perfectly matched the reality in which I was living. And after that World Will was born, the only method of truly controlling that world was through the so-called Hand of the Principle.

Thus, every material and living being that existed in that world was, in some way, connected to the power of countless Principles.

Even supreme Mages, those who claimed to possess enough strength to conquer entire worlds and who were formidable enough to contend with deities, could not simply ignore the existence of the Principle of the World and act recklessly.

The more powerful a Mage became, the more deeply they understood the World Will.

Weaker beings, on the other hand, could only vaguely sense its existence. And then I thought about my own Light Body. At a certain point in its evolution, the World Will had clearly demonstrated its existence.

Any behavior that benefited the evolution of the world would receive a positive response from the Will. And eventually, this could improve that individual’s degree of mastery and control over the Principle of the World.

On the other hand, any behavior that challenged the World Will would arouse its hostility. And once someone became a target hated by it, every living being in that world could eventually become their enemy.

The more I thought about it, the more terrifying a conclusion emerged in my mind. It was through monitoring and analyzing the general data of my body that I realized the existence of that enormous invisible hand controlling everything within that world.

Otherwise, if I truly believed that all of this was merely unconscious behavior produced by the instinct of my own body, it would practically be an insult to my own intelligence.

Countless questions began to emerge in my mind. But I had no time to continue thinking about them. As soon as I finished soaking my Light Body in the ocean of Blazing Solar Light, I quickly left.

I did not want to be discovered by the humanoid Light Spirits patrolling that region.

I ran until I reached a safe area, and afterward, I searched for another place to establish my temporary shelter.

My life continued in this manner.

After some time, the food and water I had brought with me began to run out. I had no choice but to return to an almost primitive way of life. My main source of food was the Light Rats I hunted. As for water, I had to obtain it through condensation produced by magical spells, and when that was not enough, I used the blood of the Light Rats themselves.

It was not exactly a pleasant experience. But I was accustomed to much worse situations.

To make the most of my time immersed in the ocean of Blazing Solar Light, I established a routine.

Every two days, I changed the location of my temporary shelter. This way, the time and place where I appeared in the ocean would be completely different with every excursion.

This method worked surprisingly well. I managed to avoid several ambushes and traps prepared by the humanoid Light Spirits.

They were clearly becoming irritated. But there was absolutely nothing they could do.

Through the countless times I had ’communicated’ with them indirectly, even though I had never come face-to-face with most of them, I quickly managed to understand their way of thinking and acting. With that, I managed to get closer to their home.

The so-called Ring-Shaped Reef. Although it was called a reef, it was not exactly a reef.

In reality, it was a huge chain of interconnected rocks floating on the surface of the ocean of Blazing Solar Light.

The humanoid Light Spirits had used thick chains made of metal alloys to tie those gigantic rocks together.

Thus, they had created an enormous floating island. And it remained anchored right in the center of the ocean of Blazing Solar Light.

The home of the humanoid Light Spirits had been built upon those islands. This made me realize another interesting characteristic of that race. From birth until death, a humanoid Spirit spent practically its entire existence in that endless ocean of Blazing Solar Light.

This explained a few things. They possessed extremely powerful bodies. They had high intelligence. But they lacked Wisdom. Not in the sense of knowledge, but in the sense of cunning.

That was precisely why, despite their formidable strength, I, a mere acolyte, had managed to agitate them so much.

Of course, an acolyte like me was not exactly an ordinary existence.

As I secretly observed those humanoid Light Spirits, a thought began to take shape in my mind.

A thought that would probably make any thief proud.

I wanted to rob the clan’s treasure vault.

The humanoid Light Spirits had been born and raised in that place. They patrolled the ocean of Blazing Solar Light every day.

Over countless years, they had accumulated a terrifying amount of resources. Practically all the advanced magical gems and high-level spell materials found in that mountain were stored in the vault.

If I could steal a treasure of that magnitude... Perhaps I would not need to worry about personally collecting resources for the next few hundred years. A single action could solve my needs for an absurdly long period of time.

Unfortunately...

After analyzing the situation several times, I had to abandon the plan. As expected, the humanoid Light Spirits attached an absurd amount of importance to their treasure.

They had built the vault on the largest floating island. And to make matters worse, it was located right next to the residence of the elders. Twenty-four hours a day, two elite humanoid Light Spirits remained guarding its entrance.

I had the Chip project countless possible scenarios. But regardless of the scenario, I could not find a sufficiently safe method that would allow me to enter that vault under the watchful eyes of those two elite guards.

But it was precisely during that fruitless investigation that I made another discovery. I found the tombs of the humanoid Light Spirits. Although those beings could live for more than two thousand years, time eventually caught up with all of them.

No one could escape death.

To provide their dead with a place where they could rest eternally, the humanoid Light Spirits had built a cemetery on one of the floating islands located between the islands of the Ring-Shaped Reef.

When a Liquid Giant realized that its life was coming to an end, it would enter that cemetery.

And simply wait for death. After it died, its enormous glowing body would slowly begin to cool. Until, finally, everything transformed into a gigantic stone statue.

The cemetery was filled with them. Some were seven or eight meters tall.

And naturally, those statues were not simple sculptures. They were the corpses of formidable existences.

The humanoid Light Spirits had placed an extremely heavy defense around their treasure vault. They probably feared that human Mages or light-element creatures would invade the place and steal their resources.

But as for the cemetery... I found practically no real security measures. This was understandable. After all, who would have improper thoughts upon seeing a lifeless stone statue?

Obviously, I would. That cemetery could be a true treasure trove for me. What I wanted were the elemental cores that remained within the corpses of the humanoid Light Spirits.

Naturally, the cores of those who had died long ago no longer possessed any soul aura and therefore could not be used. But the humanoid Light Spirits who had died less than a hundred years ago... Those could be different.

Perhaps some of their elemental cores could still be used as conscious cores for my Golems. And there was something even more interesting. The individuals authorized to enter that cemetery were all ancient members of the clan.

Consequently, the lowest-level elemental core I would probably find there would be equivalent to the Mage level, and if I were lucky... I might even find a Level 2 Mage core.

Just imagining the possibility of having a Golem of that level made my heart race.

Unfortunately, that was only a fantasy. If I actually tried to do that now, my death would be practically guaranteed.

The humanoid Light Spirits would probably skin me alive and then swallow me whole. There were approximately two hundred humanoid Light Spirits living on that island.

Around seventy were youths at the Pseudo-Mage level. More than one hundred and forty were adults. In that environment, where they had no natural predators and never needed to worry about food, their defense mechanisms were not particularly sophisticated.

If my level were higher... Those humanoid Light Spirits, with their enormous bodies and terrifying physical strength, could truly become my best prey.

But for now, even a young humanoid Light Spirit would be an enemy I would have to fight with extreme difficulty.

Fortunately, I was in no hurry. After constructing my own plan in my mind, I became even more discreet. Every day, I simply traveled and hunted in the outer region of that radiant world.

Every three or five days, I would dive into the edge of the ocean of Blazing Solar Light. Then I would stealthily disappear and repeat the process.

As time passed, my routine began to deceive the patrol teams. They no longer considered me a threat capable of endangering their clan.

Their pursuit still existed, but it had turned into a kind of routine.

Every two days, the game of cat and mouse would repeat itself.

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Finally, two months after entering that world of blazing light...

The Light Body I had desired for so long was finally about to be completed.

I remained motionless, watching the data displayed by the Chip.

[98%.]

[99%.]

[100%.]

The instant the progress jumped from 99% to 100%, I felt a gigantic transformation take place within my body.

....

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