Pure Blue Space

Benjamin gathered the Water Element Crystal that had entered the Consciousness Space into his hand and examined it closely.

At this moment, the Water Element Crystal was no longer an ordinary-looking blue stone. In the darkness of the Consciousness Space, it gave off faint blue light and looked incredibly profound.

Even just holding it in his hand made him feel a little closer to the surrounding water elements. Ordinary mages had good reason to use it to hone their elemental affinity.

But Benjamin had embarked on this path, so he no longer needed to train his own elemental affinity.

After some thought, he carried it over to the Triangle Glyph.

The Triangle Glyph grew stronger by absorbing water elements. The more it absorbed, the stronger it became, with no limit or bottleneck. He wondered how much water element this Water Element Crystal contained.

What would happen if he let the Triangle Glyph absorb the entire stone?

Benjamin was a little excited, but also reluctant to part with it. After all, this thing was rare. If he used it up now, what would he do if it turned out to have some other use later?

His hesitation didn't last long, though.

Soon, he made up his mind.

The Triangle Glyph was the source of everything. Benjamin's ability to cast spells, his elemental affinity, his mental strength... all his growth was closely tied to it. It was the embodiment of the essence of magic, containing endless wonders and mysteries.

The Water Element Crystal certainly had other uses, but they would all amount to making external tools. By comparison, strengthening himself was the more reliable choice.

Others could take his gun and bullets, or even cut off his arm, but as long as he was alive, the Consciousness Space and the Triangle Glyph wouldn't disappear.

Besides, Benjamin had a feeling: once the Triangle Glyph reached a certain level, it would reflect some of the fundamental laws of this world. When that happened, the entire Consciousness Space would take on a completely new appearance.

And so, Benjamin made his decision. He raised the blue stone in his hand and brought it close to the Triangle Glyph.

Hum!

The moment the Water Element Crystal touched the glyph, it gave off a resonant hum. Like a chunk of solid ice exposed to the sun, it began melting at a visibly rapid pace.

The blue light it melted into was absorbed by the Triangle Glyph, leaving nothing behind.

What...

Before Benjamin could react, the Water Element Crystal had melted away in the blink of an eye. The Triangle Glyph had absorbed all the light it became, without leaving a trace. His hand, which had just been holding the Water Element Crystal, was now empty.

Benjamin stared at the Triangle Glyph, stunned.

Damn, it's gone just like that?

After eating something that big, couldn't it at least make a sound?

Just as he was starting to feel cheated, the Triangle Glyph suddenly trembled and gave off the clearest, most ethereal ding he had ever heard. An invisible ripple swept quietly across the entire Consciousness Space, like ripples suddenly spreading across a calm lake.

It was as if a thousand triangle bells had all been struck inside Benjamin's head at once.

What...

He was still reeling from the shock that had reverberated through his body and mind when the Triangle Glyph before him suddenly blazed with dazzling light!

For the third time, he entered that wondrous Pure Blue World.

This time, however, he didn't see any blue characters. The entire world was as blue as if it had been formatted, and only some strange sounds echoed through it.

Benjamin listened closely and realized that the sounds were all repeating the same syllable.

It sounded brief, but was stranger and more difficult to pronounce than any incantation. Yet to his ears, it seemed ancient and weighty, and somehow carried a power that shook him to the core.

He had never heard a language like it, but he understood the syllable instinctively.

It meant "water."

The sound seemed to echo throughout the entire world, growing louder and louder. At first, it was like the hum of an engine starting up. By the end, it was almost as loud as rolling thunder, exploding around Benjamin from every direction without end.

"Water!"

"Water!"

"Water!"

"..."

Benjamin was almost jolted out of that Pure Blue World in sheer terror.

He returned to the Consciousness Space.

What was that?

When he came to his senses, he immediately tried to recall the syllable he had just heard. But whenever he focused on it, he felt as if his head were splitting apart. The syllable also became incredibly indistinct in his mind, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember it.

After trying for a while, the severe headache forced him to give up.

Still...

It didn't matter. He still had the system.

"Did you remember the syllable that kept echoing just now? Play it for me again," he asked the system.

"What syllable? Are you crazy? There wasn't any syllable," the system said, baffled. "You were just standing there spacing out. Are you sure you weren't hearing things?"

Benjamin froze.

The system hadn't gone into that world with him?

Once he realized this, the Pure Blue World and that syllable became even more important to him.

Ever since the system appeared, it had been as if it were part of Benjamin's brain, hearing everything he could hear and seeing everything he could see. It could even guess what he was thinking with astonishing accuracy. Even when Benjamin lost consciousness, the system could record everything happening around him and tell him about it once he woke up.

What could something be that the system couldn't see or hear?

Benjamin didn't know whether souls existed in this world. If they did, then whatever could separate the system from him must belong to the realm of the soul. And if it was something on that level, it had to be incredibly powerful.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but make up his mind.

The next time he entered that world, even if the shock made him bleed from every orifice, he would remember that syllable!

"Hey, hey! Did something happen just now that I don't know about? Tell me!" The system seemed to have grown curious and began pressing Benjamin for an answer.

Benjamin had been about to explain, but then he thought of the system's usual behavior and decided to punish it.

"This thing's too much trouble to explain. You want me to explain it, too? You're so annoying! I can't be bothered." He imitated the system's usual tone as he spoke.

"..."

From its speechlessness, Benjamin could almost picture the system's crestfallen expression—if the system had a face to make expressions with.

It felt pretty satisfying.

After picking on the system for a while, he recovered from the shock of the Pure Blue World and turned his attention back to the Triangle Glyph.

After absorbing the Water Element Crystal and undergoing a dramatic change, the Triangle Glyph had turned a deeper shade of blue. Looking at it was like gazing into an unfathomably vast deep sea. It had also grown larger, going from the size of a fist to bigger than a person's head.

What about Water Ball Spell?

With anticipation, Benjamin cast a Water Ball Spell.

As the water elements surged like a tide, a gigantic water ball quickly formed in front of him.

It was a perfect sphere, taller than Benjamin by a whole head.

Benjamin was deeply astonished.

He could actually swim inside this water ball!

The Water Element Crystal was this powerful?

Once he recovered from his excitement, he tried compressing the water ball. Under the control of his mind, it soon shrank until it was about the size of an orange. A tiny water ball bounced lightly in his hand.

How powerful would this seemingly unimpressive water ball be if he threw it at someone?

This wasn't a water ball anymore. This damn thing was a Water Bomb!

And the key was, he could form a Water Bomb in a very short time. Compressing the water ball might take a little mental effort, but he could still make six of these little water balls in a row. If he had a brief pause to catch his breath between them, he could make even more.

Even a physically powerful Paladin wearing blessed armor would probably be left dazed after being hit by six Water Bombs like these.

At the thought, even Benjamin, who had always been a peace-loving person, felt an itch to try them out.

If he weren't afraid of drawing the Church's attention, he couldn't have resisted testing their power in the real world.