#124. Starting Point (2)
—
“So, the hypothesis that a rainbow is a gemstone is gaining more credibility. Plausible evidence keeps appearing before our eyes.”
Philip summarized the conversation while looking at the gemstone in Veronica’s hand.
“And if the hypothesis is correct, this gemstone, which is presumably a fragment of the rainbow, is like an oil field that produces an infinite supply of the highest-grade fuel, something never seen before.”
Philip turned his gaze toward Ray.
“The problem is that the fuel’s quality is so high that the engine can’t fully process it yet.”
“Exactly.”
Ray nodded.
Magic fueled by the mana generated from the gemstone displayed unbelievable power.
Even the mana within a perfectly refined circle couldn’t compare.
‘Of course, that also makes it incredibly difficult to handle.’
Ray had to exert extreme concentration just to manage a small amount of mana.
Using it while moving was nearly impossible.
Still, the boy believed—
That the limit could definitely be expanded.
‘The gemstone’s mana is alive.’
It was like a collective entity with autonomous will.
He was certain that as he built a deeper connection and mutual understanding with it, the mana would gradually become more responsive to his intent.
Even though he was well aware of his own severe lack of social skills.
‘…….’
Nevertheless, he was confident.
Vwoooong────!
That confidence stemmed from the presence of a particular colored mana that had, at some point, expanded within his ring.
A vivid yellow, reminiscent of spring flowers.
It represented the emotions of excitement and anticipation, occupying a significant portion of his ring.
‘It’s taking up more space than the purple and gray.’
Red, white, light pink.
Yellow, purple, gray.
That was the current order of the most dominant colors in his circle.
From experience, there were two main reasons why the elemental distribution within his ring would shift significantly.
One, when he experienced a new and intense emotion.
Or two, when he gained a deep realization about an emotion, even without feeling it firsthand.
However, excitement and anticipation, which were associated with the yellow mana, didn’t fit into either category.
…Or so he thought.
After tracing back his memories, he found the answer.
‘Yesterday, when countless starlights flickered across the land.’
At that moment, he had felt immense elation, excitement, and thrill.
He must have been too mentally exhausted to properly recognize those emotions at the time.
Ray reached out his hand, drawing in the electrical-element mana from the air.
He relived the memory of that moment.
Vwoooong────
He could feel the texture of the element becoming much smoother.
And this phenomenon applied just as much to the electrical elements stored within the gemstone.
‘All mana resonates with emotions.’
Summoning feelings of excitement and anticipation was now an easy task.
As long as the memory of those starlights continued to twinkle in his mind.
If he revisited that memory daily and grew accustomed to the emotions tied to it, the gemstone’s yellow mana would gradually become more familiar.
‘Mana responds to those who are honest with themselves.’
Just as Graham had once said.
“Umm… It’s not working.”
Veronica tried to absorb the gemstone into her body like Ray but failed due to the strong elemental resistance.
“I guess this isn’t something just anyone can do. Here, Ray.”
Ray easily succeeded where Veronica had failed.
He turned around and stretched his palm toward the cliff once again.
Behind him, Philip’s voice rang out.
“So, the mana within the gemstone is fundamentally different from regular mana?”
Veronica was about to share her thoughts on the question—
But before she could, Ray, who had been drawing upon the gemstone’s electrical mana, spoke first.
“It’s the same kind.”
“Really? Well, I suppose all mana could be the same.”
In truth, no one could say for certain whether only one type of mana existed in the world.
But the boy was sure.
The gemstone’s mana.
The atmospheric mana.
They were undoubtedly the same.
Or rather, that was how it felt.
If the mana released from the gemstone wandered the world for a long time, undergoing contamination and corrosion—
It would eventually take on the same texture and form as the mana in the atmosphere.
A memory surfaced in his mind.
The question he had once asked an old man.
「The mana that surrounds us—where does it all come from? How is it created?」
To Ray, everything in the world had to have a beginning and an end.
Even though he had never seen it, he believed that if he traced things far enough back, he would eventually find their starting point—just like Elton River.
The idea that mana had always existed in its current state simply didn’t sit well with him.
「That’s a difficult question.」
After some thought, the old man shared a perspective from another field.
「Religious folks say that mana is a divine masterpiece, touched by the hand of a god.」
「You mean that voyeuristic being you mentioned last time?」
At the time, Ray had been expanding his vocabulary through the dictionary.
The old man had momentarily frozen in place.
「You said they watch over everything without being seen.」
Then he burst into laughter, tears forming in his eyes.
「Hahaha! That’s not entirely wrong! Calling it voyeurism, though—that’s quite the twisted perspective!」
The old man added—
That contrary to popular belief, gods weren’t actually omnipotent.
「Oh, they’re incompetent, alright. People pray endlessly, and yet, this old man’s illness remains uncured.」
It was a statement that could get him arrested for blasphemy, but that wasn’t a concern.
Sector 49 was so remote that even a god’s eyes and ears couldn’t reach it.
In any case, the idea of mana being a divine masterpiece didn’t sit well with a boy who thought of gods as voyeuristic beings.
Ever since then, Ray had occasionally pondered the origin of mana.
“…….”
And now, he thought he might finally have the answer.
But another question immediately followed.
‘…Then where is the starting point of the gemstone?’
His thoughts were abruptly cut off when the completed spell erupted violently from his palm.
Crackle────!
“Oh…? You used the gemstone’s mana again so effortlessly—”
Veronica, upon seeing the spell’s completed form, suddenly fell silent.
[Veroniㅋㅋ]
“Ah.”
Ray let out a small groan as he snapped out of his thoughts.
*
Veronica headed to the outskirts of the sector to collect soil samples.
Philip went north to gather information related to their group’s objective.
Both were accompanied by guards from the support faction.
“Ray! If things even seem a little dangerous, use the binding spell to let us know!”
“Yeah. We trust you, but given our opponent this time…”
Watching the two depart in a vehicle, Ray turned and started walking.
Tap, tap, tap, tap—
He moved briskly.
Soon, he entered the marketplace.
Voices from all around reached his ears.
“They’re really saying it’s over? That long war is finally done?”
“Yeah. You don’t hear the constant gunfire anymore, do you?”
—The war had ended.
The news had spread like wildfire across the entire sector.
Merchants resumed their business.
Residents opened their windows to hang laundry.
Children roamed the streets, looking for work.
The speed of recovery was astonishing.
Perhaps it was because everyone was simply waiting for the war to end, always ready to return to their daily lives at any moment.
“I heard Colin’s side won?”
“They were being pushed back so badly, and yet Colin won?”
“That’s what I’m saying. Brook had mercenaries from outside the sector helping him, remember?”
The main topic of conversation was whether the rumor about the Pro faction’s victory was true.
At first, everyone dismissed it as nonsense—
“Ah! I’m telling you, it’s real! I heard it directly from Colin and Jade!”
“I saw it with my own eyes! Colin and his group were dragging Brook’s men back to their hideout.”
—As more testimonies emerged, the atmosphere shifted.
“I heard Colin had a mercenary on his side too. From what I heard, white-haired, about fifteen or sixteen years old…”
With each detail, the merchants’ minds painted a clearer picture.
And when that image was finally complete—
“Uh…?”
“Huh…?”
Everyone momentarily froze in a daze.
The person in their mental image was walking right past them.
“Am I seeing things?”
“I’m seeing it too. It’s not a hallucination.”
Snow-white hair.
Pale eyes and an indifferent expression.
There were too many matching details for it to be mere coincidence.
“That’s him! I saw him!”
Someone pointed excitedly at the boy and shouted.
In an instant, voices erupted in conversation.
The power they had witnessed—the magic he had used.
The gunfight that had taken place in the streets.
The many vehicles that had chased and been chased.
Things they had heard, things they had seen directly through windows or from inside buildings.
Emotions of all kinds began to ripple through them.
Wariness, fear, curiosity.
Doubt, excitement, gratitude.
Among them, the smallest at first—gratitude—
Wuuuuuung───!
—Grew larger, pushing aside the others, as the claim that the boy had led them to victory gained credibility.
One of the merchants, after glancing around nervously, finally stepped forward and spoke to the boy.
“Excuse me… Are you the mage who fought alongside Colin?”
Ray stared at the man’s emotions for a moment before giving a small nod.
“W-Wait! Please wait a moment!”
A merchant hurriedly ran off somewhere and came back with a bag full of bread.
“Thank you so much, sir! If that bastard Brook had won the war, we would have been in serious trouble.”
As Ray walked through the marketplace, the same thing happened multiple times.
A few minutes later.
By the time he had completely left the street—
Thud— Plop!
His arms were now full of bread, fruit, flowers, shoes, and all sorts of other goods.
“…….”
His vision was entirely blocked. Turning his head slightly, he looked at the apple that had fallen to the ground.
‘These aren’t things I particularly need right now, but… all of them.’
Thanks to his reinforcement magic, they weren’t heavy.
The real problem was that he couldn’t see ahead.
His first instinct was to throw everything away, but a thought stopped him.
‘…I should see these as gifts. They weren’t given in exchange for anything, just freely given.’
Ray recalled his time studying literacy back in Sector 49.
“You burned my study notes…? The ones I spent days making…?”
“I memorized them all. No one else was going to read them anyway.”
Veronica’s study notes had indeed been useful.
But once he had memorized everything, they no longer served a purpose. To reduce clutter, he burned them.
He never carried unnecessary things.
Extreme efficiency—that was his way.
The problem was—
“That’s so cruel! How could you burn them?!”
What he had burned was not just a stack of notes—it was a product of a girl’s sleepless nights, filled with dedication, effort, blood, sweat, and tears, made solely for him.
The notes, with “Ray” written in neat handwriting on the cover, had been reduced to ashes by none other than the owner of that name.
“Ray! Come sit down! We need to talk!”
Some incomprehensible, transcendent force had compelled the boy to take a seat.
What followed was an endless flood of anger, frustration, resentment, disappointment, and sorrow, in the form of a long-winded lecture.
That day, Ray had come close to accelerating the mana circulation in his core.
He had nearly reached enlightenment about the emotion of despair.
“…….”
Feeling an inexplicable chill, Ray quickly erased the option of discarding the items from his mind.
The lesson he had learned that day was clear.
He must never carelessly burn or throw away something given out of goodwill.
‘I… shouldn’t just throw these gifts away.’
The food, he could take back and share with the others.
The clothes and shoes, he could find people who needed them.
As for the flowers, he could give them to Veronica.
Flowers had the effect of uplifting a recipient’s mood.
According to Philip, they were especially effective when given to women.
‘Giving them to Veronica would be the most efficient choice.’
Ray used telekinesis to make the items float and follow him as he continued walking.
People turned to watch the strange sight, but he paid them no mind.
‘The hat would be good for Mr. Colin. He lacks hair on his head. If his scalp overheats in the sun, it could lower his physical efficiency, and…’
His mind was completely focused on distributing the goods.
Of course, all of this—
Tap.
“…….”
—Was assuming he made it back to the hideout safely.
Ray stopped in his tracks and slowly raised his head.
Sector 1’s central street.
The very core of the sector.
A ten-story abandoned building loomed over him, casting a long, dark shadow.
Rustle.
He reached into his coat and took out Walter’s ring.
Through the binding magic imbued within it, he could sense the unmistakable presence of a person inside the building.
‘Not once has he made a move.’
From the moment Ray had arrived in Sector 46.
Through the entire battle.
Even now, right in front of the hideout.
He had remained still the entire time.
Ray had assumed the enemy wouldn’t attack the Pro faction any further.
‘There’s no longer a reason to attack.’
The reason the enemy had deployed subordinates to support the opposition was obvious.
They had needed to maintain the front lines to facilitate their search for the Rainbow Fragment.
But the war was over.
His subordinates had been wiped out.
From Ray’s perspective, there was no logical reason for the enemy to continue targeting Nisoha.
…The war in Nisoha was practically over.
But his war wasn’t.
‘If it were me, I wouldn’t have let my enemy rest.’
Right after a war ends.
When returning to base.
The opponent hadn’t shown up even when they were at their most vulnerable.
‘So he doesn’t consider it his job to move personally?’
The exact reason was unclear.
Was it arrogance, as expected?
Or was it due to some unknown factor beyond his understanding?
One thing was certain—this opponent was no ordinary foe.
‘At least Third Circle. Possibly Fourth.’
There was even a slim chance of Fifth Circle or higher.
Meanwhile, he was only Second Circle.
Yet, he felt he had a chance.
Because the true power of the Jewel’s Mana—
—Came from something else entirely.
“Oh…? I can use Gem Mana again just like that.”
Creeeeak──
The boy’s figure disappeared into the building.
