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C233 - Simplicity

A swirl of wind surged toward Leonel once again. This time, his body was surrounded by several halos of light. Instead of appearing in a concentrated form, they flew around his body like fireflies.

Leonel shook his head. He chose to reserve his judgment for now. After all, he didn't have an accurate gauge of what One Star Apprentice Arts were meant to be capable of. Assuming the worst of the Light Element just for two spells was a bit silly.

Plus, these Arts weren't exactly useless. Had he had them in the Mayan Tomb, some things might have been easier. Since he had already learned that his Internal Sight wasn't perfect, he knew that there would always be some things he could only rely on his eyes for..

After Leonel was finished, he moved toward the third crystal ball, shattering its protective barrier with just as much ease.

"…"

Leonel looked at the Magic Art in his hand for a good long while before sighing once again.

[Shining Eyes] … It was a Magic Art capable of attracting the Light Element to one's eyes, thus granting them night vision.

At this point, Leonel really didn't know what to say. It couldn't be that all the Light Element Magic Arts were related to seeing through darkness… right?

Leonel Dream Sculpted the Dream Art and moved on to a fourth, and fifth and sixth… Eventually, he had gone through over 30.

At this point, he felt the situation was too ridiculous. If he saw one more Magic Art with 'Shine' in its title, he just might go insane.

No matter what Light Magic Art he looked at, they were all related to shining. Creating halos of light, giving himself night vision, adding luminescence to objects for extended periods of time, there was even a spell for attaching two objects with 'shine'. When these two objects were close, they wouldn't shine, but, if they grew too far apart, they would begin to glow, allowing you to find the other.

Leonel put the crystal ball down, a helpless expression on his face.

'This is basically a spell to find lost keys… unbelievable…'

Leonel walked toward the last four Magic Arts while he readjusted his mind state. This was just the first level. He didn't believe that the Light Element would be so worshipped in Camelot if this was all there was to it.

Plus, there was something curious about these Magic Arts. Though they all had similar functions, they all accomplished it in novel ways. There was definitely a lesson to be learned here, it made Leonel more eager to see what the others had to offer.

'Oh?'

Leonel's brows arched in pleasant surprise.

Now that he thought about it, the pressure on his Spirit increased the further he walked into this region. And, though the change was small, the protective coverings were also growing in strength.

Logically, that meant that what remained of this region were the most powerful Light Magic Arts of this first floor. And, they didn't disappoint.

'[Flash]…'

Once again, this was a shine type Light Magic Art, however, it was different in comparison to the others. If it was applied in battle, it could actually work.

'So that's how it is… If an Apprentice works and eventually makes their way here after going through all the others, it lays a perfect foundation for this…'

[Flash] concentrated the Light Element into a small flash, temporarily blinding an opponent. Even at his current strength, Leonel wouldn't mind using this in battle.

Leonel moved to the next.

'[Light Screen]…'

Leonel smiled. Now he felt a bit bad thinking that all of these Arts would be useless. In order to get into this Zone, he had to fight his way through that little girl's ability. But, back then, he wasted a lot of Force just emitting as much Light Elemental Force as he could.

However, if he had had [Light Screen] back then, the consumption on his Force would have been near negligible.

The last two Magic Arts were [Flash Bang] and [Flash Arrow]. The former could concentrate light and explode it on a timer. It used concepts from the lost key detector Art Leonel was just making fun of. As for the latter, [Flash Arrow], it was the first real offensive Art Leonel had found.

[Flash Arrow]'s offensive output was near negligible. It quite literally had the strength of a mosquito bite. But, according to the description, if aimed into an enemy's eyes, the blinding effect could last for several minutes depending on the situation.

Unsurprisingly, its effects pulled on concepts from [Shining Eyes].

Leonel stood for a long time within the Light Region, his state of mind going into a sort of enlightenment.

Arcs of lightning surged across his Dreamscape as a light smile crossed his face.

'Even if this magic system is only useful to me within the Third Dimension, it's really taught me something valuable…'

Leonel took a deep breath and calmed his beating heart.

Everything complex was built upon the simple. Even the most intricate of Magic Arts would pull on concepts from these seemingly pitiful One Star Apprentice Arts. This was a concept that stretched past just Magic Arts, couldn't anything be described in this way?

Leonel's current Earth could be considered to have reached the pinnacle technology the Third Dimension could, but it was all built on the back of heroes of the past. Some of the things he was learning as a high school student were concepts some of the most intelligent men and women of the past spent their lives to grasp.

To him, those concepts seemed pitifully weak and simple, just like these 'shine' Magic Arts. However, to them, it represented a life of trials and tribulations, just to make it easier for kids like him to take for granted.

Leonel opened his eyes once again, a hint of understanding and wisdom lighting them.

'I hear you loud and clear.'

Leonel began to rearrange his Dreamscape. Like a pyramid, he arranged things of least complexity at the bottom, building a solid foundation. Then, he placed things with increasing complexity on top.

After his was finished, he felt that his Dreamscape flowed more smoothly, even the random synapses occured more frequently and even the average number of branches formed increased along with it.

Leonel's eyes shone with anticipation. There was no limit to the floors he could climb in this tower like there was for knowledge in the libraries. This was likely because of the Spirit Pressure he needed to resist. But, how could this pressure stop Leonel?

He would climb to the top of this tower. And, even if it took several weeks, he would save all the Magic Arts it had into his Dreamscape.

To be continued