Chapter 4528: Lumivara! I

Possibilities.

In existence, there were many beings who spent obscenely long periods of time wondering what could have been. What of this possibility or that possibility? If only things had happened this way instead of that way.

If only I was born rich. If only I was not poor. If only I was talented instead of mediocre. What could have been if I was born a genius with natural gifts?

There were countless what-ifs and what-could-have-beens that plagued the minds of entities across all of reality. But a concerning pattern emerged when one examined these contemplations closely: most of them focused on the past, on things that nobody had control over anymore.

There were many who were born talentless and poor, seemingly cursed by fate to remain at the bottom. And yet after some time and tremendous effort, some of them turned what little they had and transformed themselves completely.

After years of hard work and relentless focus, the supposedly talentless and poor suddenly became known as geniuses with extremely high levels of wealth and influence.

And those who were born geniuses or rich? Well, reality more often than not dictated that they remained geniuses and rich, building upon the advantages they were given.

But that was just how existence operated.

One should never remain bound by what-ifs and what-could-have-beens. They could change the trajectory of their lives and choose exactly what possibility their existence would take through action and will.

Focus on the now. Focus on what is, not on what could have been.

The past was immutable, but the future remained unwritten.

---

In the Infinite Unfurling.

In a distant region high in the skies, there was a floating mountain that spun slowly while roiling white mist churned below it in hypnotic patterns. On the peak of this mountain, Noah stood looking at the figure of the now fully healed Lumivara, The Radiant Wanderer.

The fox-like creature was magnificent in her restored state. She possessed a single lush tail that curved gracefully behind her, easily as long as her entire body. Her coat of radiant white fur shone with stellar luminescence, each strand seeming to emit its own soft light.

Her eyes were large and expressive, colored a brilliant gold that pulsed with her Way of Light. She stood on four legs with digitigrade paws.

Lumivara approached Noah with nervous energy, her movements both graceful and hesitant.

"I am Lumivara, The Radiant Wanderer," she said with a voice that trembled slightly. "I follow the Way of Light, seeking to understand illumination in all its forms. I... I also really enjoy watching singularities of light bloom...."

She shuffled her paws with adorable nervousness.

"I have traveled across many different regions in my existence, always moving because I was never quite strong enough to claim territory. I once tried to befriend a lightning elemental, but it tried to eat me. I do not like the taste of meat very much, preferring to sustain myself purely on light itself..."

Noah blinked at this creature with an unfathomable gaze as...why the hell was she saying all this?

Her tail swished with nervous energy.

"My dream is to one day establish a sanctuary where light can exist in its purest form, untainted by darkness or shadow. A place where all who seek illumination can come and learn. Though... I suppose that is a rather presumptuous dream for someone as weak as me."

She looked down with embarrassment at her own admission.

Noah looked at her and shook his head with a calm smile, finding her earnest nervousness somewhat endearing.

Though she did ramble.

"You mentioned an area that has something good?" he asked, bringing the conversation back to practical matters.

Lumivara’s ears perked up as she nodded eagerly.

"Yes! I came across a region filled with blinding light that would even blind Pre-THE Existences if they approached carelessly, of course, not me since I walk The Way of Light..." she explained with growing confidence as she spoke about her discovery.

"The entire domain is protected by layers of luminescence so intense that they function as barriers."

Her eyes shone with the memory.

"It cannot even be accessed through normal spatial travel. One must pass through a small invisible wormhole that is almost impossible to detect. The wormhole takes one an extremely far distance across the Infinite Unfurling, far beyond where most would ever venture."

She gestured with her paw as if drawing a map in the air.

"And even after passing through the wormhole, one has to be perceptive to a very unique frequency of light to find and move through a doorway that leads into the actual domain. I can perceive that frequency because of my Way, but most entities would never find it."

Her voice dropped to something almost reverent.

"I personally call this region the Sanctuary of Perpetual Dawn, because the light there feels like an eternal sunrise that never fully arrives."

Noah’s eyes radiated brilliant light as he listened to this powerful entity who actually possessed more Complexity and Purity than him. And yet she was nervously talking as if he might devour her at any moment, which was an accurate assessment of their power dynamic despite the numerical difference.

He reflected on this region that she described before asking another critical question.

"Why did you consider this place so good?" he asked with interest. "What value did you find there?"

Lumivara’s expression became more serious as she replied.

"Even I could not venture very far into that domain," she admitted with slight shame. "An immense pressure of concentrated light burned all around, becoming more intense the deeper one traveled. The weight of illumination itself became oppressive."

She paused before continuing.

"But in the periphery, in the outer edges of the domain where I could survive, I managed to swallow something that I could only identify as... as an Expressionless Sovereignty. Something that existed without will or consciousness behind it."

Her eyes widened with the memory.

"Whatever I consumed allowed my Way of existence, my own Sovereignty of Light, to advance rapidly! In just a few hours of absorbing materials from the periphery, I made progress that would have taken years elsewhere!"

Noah’s eyes became sharp and focused as they locked onto this being, causing her to tremble with even more nervous energy under his scrutiny.

"Why did you leave such a place then?" he asked with quiet intensity. "If advancement was so rapid, why abandon it?"

Lumivara’s ears drooped as she gave her reply with embarrassed honesty.

"I... I got scared," she admitted while looking down. "I did not sense the aura of a Pre-THE Existence or even any THE Entities within the domain. The place felt completely barren and devoid of signatures from conscious beings."

Her tail curled protectively around her body.

"But I did feel a type of natural power emanating from deep within. Not an entity exactly, but something that could potentially rival or even exceed an entity at the level of THE Surface Depth of Absolute Sovereignty."

She looked up at Noah with wide eyes.

"So I fled before whatever that power was could notice me and decide I was an intruder."

Noah looked closely at this powerful creature that had actually been scared away from a potentially treasure-rich domain. He sighed quietly and shook his head with mixed feelings.

She claimed that she did not sense an entity with the power of THE, but what she felt seemed to be exactly at that level of potency.

What could it be if not a THE entity?

One possibility was that she was simply wrong, and there was indeed a powerful being residing there who was concealing their presence. In which case, venturing into that domain would be effectively delivering himself to a predator.

But in the case that her words were accurate and there truly was no conscious entity in such a domain, then the outer periphery alone held resources that could allow one to rapidly progress in their Sovereignty.

This could be a unique opportunity that had landed directly in Noah’s lap through fortunate circumstances. He simply needed to be certain enough about the risks involved before attempting to obtain the potential boons of this unknown place.

His eyes flashed with decision as he spoke with commanding certainty.

"Okay. For now, I need to continue hunting a few more things to strengthen myself further. You said you would serve as my mount, yes? Let us go."

Lumivara’s body trembled before she nodded with nervous acceptance. Her form began to enlarge, growing until her figure became almost twice as large as Noah’s current transformed state.

He floated up smoothly and landed on her back, feeling her extremely soft fur beneath him. The texture was like resting on clouds made solid.

He nodded while calmly saying with measured approval, "Adequate."

The body of Lumivara trembled at the simple word of acceptance. Her existence experienced a sudden surge of Mana flowing through their connection, and her Way of Light felt even grander than before!

It was as if she had just become connected to a source of infinite light, a wellspring that would never run dry!

She was utterly astonished by the sensation!

Noah tapped on her body and applied the capability of Ambient Integration to both of them. Their figures began to meld with the surrounding space, becoming invisible to standard perception.

He tapped on her flank again and said simply, "Let us go."

...!

The newly formed partnership of the impossible anomaly and the radiant wanderer began to move through the Infinite Unfurling with purpose!

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