BXBX NOVEL Chapter 84: Enlightenment
Chapter 84: Enlightenment
A shadowy figure, using a pickaxe, dug up the ground, slicing through the roots and rocks with ease.
It was already dark, and it was strange for someone to be digging in the middle of the forest. It was almost like a horror movie.
At that moment, the pickaxe smashed through the ground and hit something solid. A putrid smell filled the air.
The pickaxe happened to strike a strange coffin that was buried in this forest.
The figure quickly smashed the coffin open with the pickaxe, and there was a skeleton inside that still had flesh clinging to its bones.
Its skeleton fingers were holding a box tightly.
The figure didn\'t care about respecting the dead and ripped the box off its fingers.
Without further ado, he opened the box, and there was a single golden pill there—a pill that was letting out a musical melody that was both haunting and beautiful.
"This is it..."
The moonlight revealed the shadow\'s face. It was young, with navy-blue eyes and black hair that blended nicely with the darkness.
Adam rolled the pill in his hand with a smile, and then, without further ado, he popped it into his mouth and swallowed it down.
This pill was the reason why he came to the tenth floor.
It was this floor\'s golden opportunity.
...
In the campsite, a campfire flickered against the dark backdrop of the night sky.
A few members of the raid party were still awake, but most had retreated to their tents for some much-needed rest after today\'s long day.
After a whole day of mining, they managed to acquire quite a few Magick Energy crystals.
Inside one of the tents, Adam sat cross-legged with a lamp beside him, which illuminated the canvas of the tent. The crystal inside the gas lamp gave off a faint glow, but it still provided plenty of light.
Adam\'s eyes were closed tight, his brows slightly furrowed, and his body looked unnaturally tense.
\'What am I missing?\' He slowly opened his eyes. \'I know I am close to learning Kiryoku, but I just can\'t seem to fully grasp it.\'
\'In my past life, I learned Kiryoku after several years of learning, but I never actively tried to learn it, only when I didn\'t have anything to do.
\'I was far from being a master of Kiryoku.
\'I must not look like much of a genius since I am struggling to learn this. I still have to do my part as an S-ranker, which I don\'t think I am without my future knowledge.
\'I was never a genius. The only thing I had was my work ethic, which helped me achieve success in the end. Now, I am supposed to be some kind of super genius. Sigh.
\'If I had just learned Kraft and Magick, I am sure I could\'ve re-learned them in a week or two. That would be very impressive.
\'However, I can\'t just abandon Kiryoku. I am confident in my choice!\'
At that moment, his overly tense body relaxed significantly after letting out some of the steam. Without realizing it himself, his body was finally able to breathe freely.
With his shoulders easing up, his body turned almost like jelly, with relief washing over him like a tidal wave. His muscles felt like they were melting away, and as he closed his eyes, he sank deeper into the blissful state of relaxation.
This was a strange state.
This was not something he experienced even once in his past life.
Without knowing about it yet, Adam reached a state of "Enlightenment."
This wasn\'t a coincidence or purely luck.
After everyone started to go to sleep, Adam snuck out and went to get his golden opportunity -the golden pill-which in fact was called the enlightenment pill.
He had heard so many rumors of such pills, but he never managed to get one of them in his previous life as they were incredibly precious.
Now, it was his.
"Whoo..." Adam slowly opened his eyes, which had a slight golden tint.
At that moment, Adam\'s mind turned much broader, allowing his thoughts to move with greater freedom than ever before.
As he turned his gaze to the ground, he saw an ant move along a blade of grass, carrying a crumb that was almost as big as itself.
He could feel the ant\'s emotion-it was craving a taste of that sweet crumb.
Adam had unlocked the first layer of Kiryoku-allowing him to feel the attacking intent and emotions of the people!
"Finally..." Adam laughed heartily. "That pill was surely fantastic. It is sad that its effect is pretty much gone, but now that I used enlightenment to awaken my Kiryoku, it will be easier
for me to continue learning it.
"That\'s the magical power of enlightenment."
Adam, with a smile, tried to extend his mind beyond the tent. It barely worked, and he
couldn\'t feel the auras of anyone around him.
\'It is too early for me to sense auras...\' he thought to himself. \'I should be able to feel the heavy emotions of people in the campsite. Let\'s try that...\'
Almost immediately, he managed to get a sense of just one heavy emotion that was very close
to him-a few tents to the left.
The emotion was heavy pleasure.
"Oh..." Adam scratched the back of his head. "I was wondering why that tent was rocking back and forth so much. Well, let\'s try more."
He then started stretching his mind to its fullest. He wanted to test his limits.
If he was standing right in front of the person, he could feel even the light emotions of the people, unless they were good at hiding or also knew Kiryoku.
However, he now focused on more of the heavy emotions.
Something clicked inside Adam\'s mind. He managed to get a reading of another emotion.
A strange emotion that wasn\'t coming from exactly the campsite.
It was heavy nervousness.
Adam opened his eyes with a frown and tried to understand where the reading came from.
It came from pretty close, as he couldn\'t stretch his mind too far. However, it didn\'t come from the campsite, that\'s for sure.
\'That also wasn\'t a feeling from Chaosbeing. That emotion was from a person. Is one of the raid party members outside the campsite? But why and why would they feel such heavy
nervousness?
\'I would understand if they were nervous for the raid, as I am sure everyone is, but that was such heavy nervousness, as if that person was about to do something risky...
\'I\'ll need to check this out.\'
Adam left his tent and saw that there were a few people sitting around the campsite, just
watching the fire.
He then looked in the direction where he thought the emotion came from. It came behind
trees that were standing still.
It was so dark that he couldn\'t see further than two trees.
Adam frowned and looked towards the forest with a hawk-like gaze.
He felt the heavy nervousness intensify even further, as if the person noticed Adam\'s gaze.
And then Adam\'s eyes opened wide as over a dozen other signals assaulted his senses-there were at least a dozen attacking intents directed in his direction!
\'There\'s so many... Ambush!\'
"Everyone, wake up. We are getting ambushed!"
With that, over a dozen dark-cloaked figures jumped out of the darkness of the forest,
screaming and howling.