Odyssey of the Blind God

Nial was not sure how or why but he ended up in a classroom inside Yggdrasil.

The class was being held on the top branches of Yggdrasil and more than 30 rather young Elves were seated around him.

Right now, Nial was not able to restrict his range of perception anymore. He had to listen intently to every single word Master Crevian said while focusing his range of perception on the blackboard ahead of him.

Numerous runic constellations were still written on the blackboard that had yet to be cleaned from the previous lesson.

He engraved the runic constellations in his mind just before Master Crevian waved his hand, wiping away everything that had been written on it before.

<How planets create the perfect balance between their planetary mana core and their Core Essence>

Nial didn't try to think of too complex things when he read the title of today's lesson. He didn't want to start making theories but was eager to get to know the truth with pieces of evidence proving everything!

"Cheryl, what can you tell me about today's topic?" Master Crevian asked the young Elf, who was seated close to Nial.

Every Elf tried to sit as close to Nial as possible making them all huddle around him but that was mostly an instinctive decision and something that happened due to the influence Nial had on their subconscious.

He was currently connected to Yggdrasil and all Elves, especially Sacred and High Elves, all of whom were drawn to Yggdrasil more than any other type of plant, or organism.

"Fully matured planetary mana cores are usually in an unstable state because the Core Essence of the majority of planets can be considered to be extremely sensitive and feeble. Planetary mana cores release a ginormous amount of mana and as everyone may know, raw mana is destructive and very dangerous.

To prevent the destruction or damage of the Core Essence, the overflowing mana that cannot be controlled by the planetary mana core has to be expelled from the core region of the planet.

It has to be used up or expelled completely, which is why most planets create isolated dimensions or release their mana outside their core the moment it reaches a certain threshold, which results in the creation of various mythical places and 'beings'.

Mana veins are created by the purest and raw mana. It is dangerous to enter a mana vein but being close to one has many benefits. Legend says that mana veins give birth to mythical beings, who control and alter raw mana but that is something we have yet to prove!" Cheryl, the cheerful young High Elf chimed like a parrot, reciting a tale it had learned by heart. She didn't seem flustered about the question Master Crevian asked.

Meanwhile, Nial was just confused. He frowned deeply and tried to connect the dots.

'Planetary mana cores are different from the Core Essence…No idea what a Core Essence is but it seems to be essential for the planet's survival. The isolated dimensions Cheryl mentioned are probably dungeons and maybe some other places.

I've heard about mana veins but I don't know how potent they actually are. As for mythical beings…are Fairies such beings? Well, whatever…this is interesting!!' Nial's face lit up the more he thought about it.

He was getting to know the information he had never expected to find out in his life. This was pretty intriguing.

"Your answer was good, Cheryl, but what you've said does not sum up everything. Can someone continue where Cheryl stopped, or add the points she missed?" Master Crevian praised Cheryl with a gentle smile before he turned his attention to everyone else.

A young male Elf lifted his hand and Master Crevian motioned to the young man,

"Haru, please tell us more."

Harue, the young Elf, got up from his chair, making everyone turn their heads in his direction. He smiled arrogantly for a moment before he started to fix the 'mess' Cheryl created.

"To summarize Cheryl's overly lengthy explanation, the planetary mana core is in an unstable and wild state when matured, and releases its excessive mana in different ways.

However, that is not the complete truth. A planetary mana core is unstable from the moment it awakens. Planetary mana cores are mutations within a planet's core. These mutations were created over the passage of time. They took millions of years to be manifested and upon awakening, they released raging storms of mana.

Their awakening unseals the sentience of a planet, which allows it to work against the raging mana storms that would destroy the planet's Core Essence aka its soul, in a short period. The planetary mana core is balanced out by creating various mythical environments on the surface, above the surface, or even underground.

In this process, dungeons are created and, of course, dungeon beasts as well are born.

Legends say that many races were born from mana because the excessive amount of raw mana began to alter the planet in its entirety, thereby accelerating the progress of evolution.

The mutation within a pla–...." Haru would have continued if not for Master Crevian who raised his hand, asking him to turn quiet.

"As expected from you, Haru. You've been taught well," Master Crevian acknowledged with a nod.

Haru was a bit dissatisfied with the sudden interference but he remained quiet and sat down on the chair. He had been in a flow and had wanted to attract more attention from his brethren, especially Nial, who seemed to be very interested in the basic knowledge, which every Elf had been taught from a young age.

However, Master Crevian was oblivious to his student's disappointment and he simply continued,

"Planetary mana cores influence the entire planet and they allow all lifeforms to evolve and progress. However, a planetary mana core's influence doesn't stop at itself.

They influence the planets in the same stellar system as well, which results in the mutation in their core region. Over the course of time, said planets awaken their own planetary core as well. Through this, a chain reaction is initiated, awakening the mana of countless planets.

Smaller planets require only a small push and little influence from outside to awaken their own planetary mana core, while larger, and unique planets require far more than a mere little push.

Many existences want to create this 'push' or the necessary influence to initiate the awakening of a planet with the use of special means to move the dungeon portals of their planets to a different place.

The further the place, the more energy is required. But that is not all because it is highly dangerous if a planet's original dungeon gets transferred somewhere else."

Master Crevian seemed to have a lot to say. He was almost unstoppable and it was only at one point that he realized he should stop now.

He was not ready to scare Nial with the bitter truth yet, the truth that the influence of hundreds of planets would cause Jundra's mana awakening to be far more devastating than any other planet's. The planet itself wouldn't sustain any damage but all the beings on Jundra would face years of chaos.

If Master Crevian were to hint more about the things that were directly related to Jundra, Nial would definitely turn insane, or desperate, at the very least.

"Going into detail would require too much time and it would be too complex for today's Basic lesson as well. Thus, I want to discuss in-depth the dungeons we spoke about just a moment before.

How are their abilities created and why does every race have a specific number of abilities they can bind to their mana core?" Master Crevian wanted to provide Nial with lots of knowledge, which was why he asked specific questions that would enlighten him.

However, while he was ready to ask specific questions, there was certain information he didn't want Nial to find out yet.

Many High Elves and Sacred Elves lifted their hand to answer the question that seemed to be very easy to answer for everyone but Nial.

Master Crevian picked one of the eager students to answer the question, just to see the Elf jump up from his chair the moment he was chosen.

"Ability crystals are said to be created out of Soul fragments of beasts. When enough Soul fragments of a dungeon beast have been accumulated, or the Soul of a beast is especially strong, an ability crystal forms," The young Elf first said before looking at Nial, who seemed to become overly interested in this topic.

Because of that, the Elf thought of something before he continued to speak,

"As a side note, Origin crystals are created from the purest energy of a dungeon, mixed with the remnants of the beast's mana. When enough remnants of mana merged with the dungeon's excessive pure energy were mixed, crystal forms…an Origin crystal."

The Elf cleared his throat, throwing a sideways glance at Nial, who nodded his head in interest, just to turn his head away once again.

"As for the number of ability crystals that can be bound, it differentiates for every race. A race's innate traits allow them to receive various benefits, and sometimes disadvantages. For example, High Elves have a much stronger connection to mana, while Sacred Elves are naturally closely connected to nature.

Because of this, the Sacred Elves' have a stronger nature affinity, and they're more likely to awaken affinities, or Innate abilities related to nature, and healing. On the other hand, High Elves are more likely to awaken more elemental affinities the moment they awaken their Origin.

However, our race can only bind two abilities to their mana core in total, which is rather low in contrast to the number of ability crystals many other races can bind to their mana core!"

Every single explanation delivered by one of the young High Elves and Sacred Elves was helpful but Nial quickly noticed that his head began to buzz.

'Elves can only bind two abilities to their body? I didn't know that…I thought everyone can be like humans and bind five abilities…that changes everything!' Nial thought while trying to keep a poker face.

Humans didn't really have any special racial traits. Their only advantage was that they could awaken all kinds of innate abilities but that was not exactly something one could consider a special trait. But the number of abilities they could bind was something that intrigued him a lot.

'That means if humans focus on a special field of expertise, we might be able to gain an unmatched level of expertise in it and surpass the others. I mean if I focus solely on combat or enhancing my dark energy, for example, I should be able to strengthen the dark energy to an extent Damian would have dreamed of, or not?' Nial's mind was a mess and he needed time to digest everything he just got to know.

Unfortunately, nobody would give him the time he needed to calm down. Master Crevian continued to ask questions, while the young Sacred and High Elves continued to answer them, bogging him down with a lot of information.

Nial tried to keep up with the pace Master Crevian asked questions but most answers simply entered his head from one ear before they were thrown out once again from another. He was trying his best to digest everything and it seemed to work okayish.

However, Nial quickly realized that the information he had gotten to know was much more deep and more enriching than anything he could have hoped for.

Through Nial's high comprehension ability which was enhanced by both the Symbol of Life and the Fairies' Blessing, he could understand much more from the provided information than others could.

While they thought the information wasn't anything special, Nial was of a completely different opinion.

'Can we use this to an advantage to elevate ourselves and set us apart from other races…to even out their advantages or surpass them?'