What was true elental mana?
According to Mom, it was the purest form of an elent, reminiscent of the primordial mana that existed at the beginning of this world. Where did this information co from? From the lesser fae and elentals, of course, for their race were the first sentient beings. Sadly, none of those who lived during that ti were alive nowadays, for even the six Elental Emperors were relatively “young,” despite being the “oldest” known fae in the world.
Since the fae, before the elves and fairies ca into being, passed down their stories, histories, and lessons verbally, a lot of the history was lost to ti until elven scholars beca competent enough to gather snippets of these into books and scrolls. Unfortunately for these historians, and even people like the astrologists, the appearance of the Origin Gods killed off a lot of interest in this past. THEIR descent was the start of a new past, present, and future.
Fortunately, I wasn’t that into history that I would grieve this fact. What was important to was that true elental mana was my goal and that I could obtain the ice and holy version of it.
“My lecture will be different from what you’ve experienced today, your grace. Due to my circumstances as the heir of Sacred Nest, I have a duty to explain and teach you why our nest is so fascinated by the forr Holy Elental Primarch’s remains. Why my father took such an interest in it, to the point that he was pushing for you to have Sanzaphon ‘cleanse’ the restrictions on the catalyst. And why we earnestly wish to train you,” Uriahn began as we sat down at a table. He had already prepared the fireplace and so tea for to warm up since my body’s control went back to .
“Well, it’s obvious, no? You’re only in it for the true holy mana inside [Providence’s Will],” I replied as I allowed my holy catalyst to float around as if it were a living elental. “I don’t have a reason not to share it, even if one of my empress-mothers is vehently against giving any support to Sacred Nest… not to ntion that we do have a deal, right?”
He nodded. “I already sent a wyvern to inform my father. He should have sent a reply by now, but I presu he must be discussing the subject with the nest’s elders and senators. The sa must be happening with Dragon Ruler Alextraxus, correct?”
I nodded.
Although I wasn’t exactly sure what Taim’s entire plan was, I still trusted him enough to go with it, which ant sending Sacred Nest to help Kahalaet and to have Frozen Nest prepare the fortification to survive Quasdrakeen’s attack. War was coming due to the gleeful excitent of a vengeful daughter, just ‘cause Mom and I had to kill her dad for threatening the lives of an entire city. We needed all the help we could get.
Before Mom arrived to train , I had already made the necessary preparations. Uncle Alex, Kary, and Guyul could handle the nest’s affairs, while Grimnir, Forminaxtrass, and Yuilengreill were responsible for the technological side. Seeing how Taim was starting to take his position as the mastermind, he was probably instructing his mother on what he needed.
“Good. Our nest has an alliance, so we have to work together to fulfill your wishes.” Uriahn then picked up so of the wooden tablets he had placed on the table, handing one of them to read.
True ice: Unable to be lted unless the true ice mana is contaminated with other types of mana. Overpowers any spell that is below ‘advanced magic Lv. 5’ spell.
“Can you elaborate on the last sentence for true ice, please?” I asked with a raised brow.
He nodded. “The information I wrote down cos from books I read when I visited Aleistunum. It cos straight from one of the restricted libraries.”
“I’ve never visited the magical capital, so you have to elaborate on that, too.”
“Aleistunum is a ritocracy that focuses on magical achievents—an ‘arcanocracy.’ You should know, since I heard you registered with the mages’ guild. While their largest library is publicly available, more sensitive and valuable information is locked behind the various libraries of the different factions within the country. You must, at least, be an arcanist to join these factions,” he explained. “The one I visited belonged to the church of Istari.”
“Isn’t the entire country dedicated to him? He founded it, after all.”
“The church itself is a hoarder of information. The position of the archerudite promotes teaching and sharing information,” he responded, leaving still confused. “Both factions are aspects of Istari’s domain of knowledge, where the forr restricts information to only those worthy of them, while the latter emphasizes the joy of learning everything. Aleistunum believes in a balance, as too much information can be a poison to the mind, while too little is a recipe for stagnation.”
That explains the difference. So in a way, there is a separation of state and church.
He continued, “The church is responsible for storing so of God Istari’s more esoteric and wild writings. Furthermore, historic scriptures and books require a proper education to fully understand. To them, every bit of information must be archived, but not everything should be shared. One of them is God Istari’s recounting of what happened between the Origin Gods and our previous elental primarchs.”
So it probably talks about their fall from heaven.
“I wasn’t allowed to read his ‘dairies,’ but information on true elental mana was found there. As such, the comparisons are a bit more archaic or vague than how we would do it now,” he elaborated. “By ‘advanced magic Lv. 5,’ the author ans people who have reached an archmage-level of magic. Minimum, you must have gained an affinity for an elent. Realistically, you just need a lot of mana that aligns with an elent to ‘dilute’ the true ice mana.”
“Ahhh, just write it like that. Tasianna, Shay, Beth, and I already understood the only way to get rid of true ice is to simply pour our mana into it until it becos ‘normal’ ice.”
“As I said, I wrote it exactly how I rembered it from that book. I did a lot of research on it since Sacred Nest has always tried to have a descendant awaken true holy mana.” He sighed, looking like he was reminiscing. “Anyways, that thod is how true elental mana ‘died out.’ Historians speculate that the six foundational elents diluted each other as they fused to form the four composite elents. That created true ice, magma, mud, and lightning, but as a result, also created the normal elental mana we know today. It was through the elental kings and emperors that true elental mana never truly went extinct.”
I nodded and continued reading.
True lightning: Ignores mana connections, allowing it to bypass defensive barriers, natural occurrences, and even the mana resistance of various living beings. Its effects are ineffective against earth and mud.
True mud: No offensive effect. Giver of all life. The mud this mana creates allows the cultivation of plants, insects, and fungi. Water allows life to exist, but mud allows it to thrive. True mud mana is easily diffused into the soil and everything living inside it.
True magma/lava/volcano: Can lt everything, allowing even the most heat-resistant minerals to be turned into sothing useful. Elentalists who enter a contract with the Magma Elental King undergo a lting process. Death is inevitable. You must have a mana body to use this mana. True ice and true magma nullify each other.
“You didn’t write anything about the respective kings of the composite elents,” I comnted.
He shrugged. “Neither did the author. I presu that each of the elental kings secluded themselves after what happened to the elental emperors. The Ice Elental King remained in the coldest region of the world, so I presu the others did sothing similar.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Magma Elental King was currently living inside the planet’s magma core. Lightning and mud were a bit more difficult to guess, but maybe it was better that we didn’t know anything about them for now. Tasianna would eventually chase after them for her book, though.
Here we go, the basic six elents… True water: Water represents the flow of mana, suggesting that neutral mana, the ‘true’ form of mana, moves like invisible water. It moves through the air like water, but that does make question what exists beyond our heaven. The astrologers suggest an endless darkness—
I looked up, frowning a bit, only to see Uriahn nodding as if he already knew I would make this reaction. aning, what was written here wasn’t just so ramble, but part of my lesson.
… so does that an that mana doesn’t exist there? Then how does our moon change color? The Origin Gods’ existence suggests that mana exists in their world as well, so then how was ‘Edjurian energy’ different from ours? How is demonic energy different from Peolyncian mana? Well… maybe it was because mana acts like water. It is essential for life. Maybe mana exists everywhere, but people in other worlds call it by a different na? There is much to learn, but one thing is clear: true water mana absorbs and steals mana, like a tidal wave dragging along houses and trees. True lightning can bypass mana barriers, but true mana will simply erode and break them down.
“You really have a good mory, unless you wrote this?” I asked in a joking manner, prompting Uriahn to giggle.
“Would you see in a better light if I had?” he replied with his own joke, prompting to cringe and shake my head, trying to keep up a smile. “Haha… and no, it’s the forr. The book went into a lot of hypotheses and guesses. What I wrote down are summaries, and anything I believe is interesting to the subject. Arcane studies isn’t just about creating better spells, it’s about understanding how Peolynca works.”
The more I listened to him, the more Uriahn seed like a more positive and energetic version of Taim. Both sounded like scholars.
Anyway, let’s continue. Hmm, true fire: Can burn even without additional fire to fuel it, remaining alight as long as the surrounding mana doesn’t dilute the true fire mana. Can even burn underwater. True ice may freeze true fire, but true fire will continue burning from within the ice. Similar to true lightning and true ice, true fire ignores fire resistances.
“Huh, so that is what Quasdrakeen ant by true fire mana. Sounds a bit similar to how my [Hellblade Dragon],” I murmured.
True wind: True wind mana is actually the simplest of the true elental mana, for it is a far improved [Aerokinesis]! Yet, despite its simplicity, true wind mana in the hands of a capable wind mage allows you to turn wind into solid tal, as lethal as a deluge of water, and the ability to cool and warm whatever it touches. More importantly, it shows no real weakness to any of the other true elents, making it the perfect elent to nullify the effects of the other true elents. Even if it isn’t the most effective for all.
True earth: The Earth Elental Emperor was known to move the land, reconstructing our continents to their liking to create mountains, lakes, and ravines. They absorb mana and life to create and renew, just as its emperor created the dwarves through dirt and rocks. If water can move everywhere and take it away, then earth stands steadfast to act as a wall against water to prevent the world from drowning. A true earth mana mage would, most likely, be the most dangerous person in the world aside from a true magma mana mage. Tremble, oh world, for the danger the Earth Elental Primarch possesses, but weep tears of joy that Goddess Crustacia rules our world with gentle laughter.
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True dark: Soulmancy, creation of a world of shadow, and the nihility of existence… true dark mana and the Dark Elental Emperor might be the most mysterious of all, for there had never been a living true dark mana mage. In my long lifespan, I have never t, heard, or witnessed a true dark mage. I already understand why: the Dark Elental Primarch was reclusive, even for a god. They ruled over the cycle of reincarnation, and it is clear they never wished to grant sobody else that power. Yet that mystery has probably drawn so many dark mages into the deep dark.
“… You really are good at rembering things,” I said, causing Uriahn to smile bitterly. He then stood up and went to get his party bracelet.
“Princess Hestia, may I remind you that the note-taking function of the party bracelets isn’t a recent invention? Not to ntion, I belong to one of the richest clans in Sacred Nest, so I can afford the most modern bracelets. As I said, I did my research, and that ans taking notes.”
“… Oh.” I lowered my head, feeling a blush heating up my face. I wanted to groan so badly.
Let’s just focus. Last one. True holy: Holy and dark mana are two sides of a coin, and this is represented by how we have a world of light and a world of shadows. Dark mana has control over souls, while holy mana has control over life itself. The shadows may capture light and warmth, but they cannot create it. In the presence of true holy mana, no shadows will be cast by it, preventing any growth of the shadow world. This is the niche for true holy mana: miracles of lifeweaving. Wounds that normal potions and healing magic cannot heal can be healed with true holy mana. Organ and limb regrowth are normal. There is a reason why Goddess Aurena was the first to beco one of the six elental primarchs—she liberally used true holy mana to gain followers, unlike the previous primarch, and as such gained extrely loyal blessed who then beca the core of her subordinate gods. Praise be HER, for without HER, we would have lost Istari when he was foolish enough to learn his third true mana.
I placed down the tablet. “Third?”
Uriahn nodded. “True mana mages are rare because the primary way to learn it before the Origin Gods’ descent was through a contract with an elental king or emperor. Elentals do not create spells. They weave their mana to create magical results, inspiring faemancers to create spells. Yet these spells are hard to learn and rember, and even if you can cast them, you might face complications like the elental mana harming you. You should have learned it today.”
“Hikari had trouble mastering [Fimbulvetr Wall], yes. Our fingers kept freezing.”
“Now imagine that happening back then without the Divine System’s intervention. You can survive in this world as long as your health remains above zero, but back then, a bad [Arcane Fever] situation could instantly lead to death. People would fall from the shock of having their limbs blown up!” Uriahn said with a finger snap. “That was the most likely ending for sobody wishing to learn true elental mana through spells. The only probable thod was to gain the gift to cast it from an elental.”
“Like Thalaxarus.”
“Yes. You should understand that your mother gaining the ability to cast true ice mana is already an extrely rare occurrence. Kargryxmor, despite his power, never gained true fire man, yet was strong enough to defeat Thalaxarus and slay him. Possessing true elental mana does not an your victory is assured. It is simply a powerful tool,” he emphasized, prompting Kramps to tell to listen to him properly.
That old man was too easy to please with so complints…
Uriahn continued, “I am here not to teach you how to obtain true holy mana, but to help you earn the skill [Photokinesis]—light manipulation. While you do that, [Providence’s Will] will help you with your true holy mana and share it with . I will help you control it, as I was taught as a holy dragon. Although your talent as a holy dragon allowed you to master your holy spells, I presu Goddess Aurena never taught you how to manipulate light itself, yes?”
I nodded. “It is all instinct and feel. As a sunfang dragon, the information probably ca naturally to , and that is how I’ve learned how to manipulate solar energy into beams, blasts, and also to empower my body with it. Though scientifically, light isn’t just solar energy.”
“Fire, lightning, and the glow of our magic circles; there are many light sources that do not have any bearing on the solar power of our sun. Though, as you possess knowledge from Earth, I presu you won’t have too much trouble with my training. Let ask, though: you do know that light isn’t sothing similar to the air, right?”
“Is that what you believe?” I tilted my head. “Here is a question: why does true wind mana turn ‘solid?’ You wrote the notes, so you must have asked that, right?”
“It is because of mana. Similar to how mana can control earth to harden.”
I shook my head. “Not entirely true, but I do have to add that the existence of mana does throw a wrench in my knowledge of science. As long as the air in this world is similar to that of my world, then I can explain it properly. To put it simply, air is actually made up of countless small atoms. Uuuh, think of them as very, very, very small sand grains, or particles. Do you get what I an?”
“Breathable, invisible to the eye, sand grains. I cannot imagine it, but do go on.”
“Right, thanks for keeping an open mind about this. I can’t give you a crash course on chemistry, but these atoms form into gases. Invisible-to-the-eye ones, and that is what we breathe in. And just like the air, light is also made out of super-small particles. There is so much to explain, but I’m really not an expert in the subject to give you a proper answer to all of them. All my knowledge ca from my parallel minds sorting through my days in school and researching things, after all.”
“That’s okay, though, because light being made of ‘super-small particles’ was exactly what I wanted to hear from you. It’s strange… I had a bit of a déjà vu when you explained what the air consisted of, because that is the sa reaction people had when I explained light to them. As you ntioned, with your solar power, to dragons who learn [Photokinesis] through birth or evolution, it just clicks in our head.”
I snapped my finger to simulate that effect. “It takes a bit to get used to it, but it feels natural, right? It also happened to when I first learned how to breathe fire. Or how I got used to killing despite being a pacifist back on Earth. It’s the sa thing how we dragons know instinctively how dragonkin pheromones work. The Divine System supported in casting my first spell, but I knew how to move my mana through my body even at birth. The information was imprinted into our heads.”
“Mhmm, and the sa applies to [Photokinesis]. Essentially, the first step to obtain the skill is simple—use your mana and try to feel these particles.”
“May I cheat?”
Uriahn tilted his body, causing to chuckle as I finished my tea before standing up. Gesturing for him to co out, we left his ho as I stretched my hands.
“Though first, I presu you must be curious about [Fimbulvetr Wall], right?” I asked with a smirk, prompting Uriahn to raise a brow. Seeing this, I tapped my core. “You know how it works with Hikari and . When we change who is in control of our body, we also change our biology. My body switches from a fire dragon’s to that of a silver dragon, which changes our elental alignnt as well. From fire to ice. In the process, every fire-related skill, ability, and spell changes as well. Aren’t you curious what happens to a true ice spell?”
The holy dragon’s eyes widened as he let out an interested moan, slowly nodding as he placed a hand on his chin. I nodded and snapped, conjuring [Fimbulvetr Wall]’s magic circle before pouring mana into it. Despite seeing it cyan-colored this afternoon, the spell was glowing bright red right now, confirming the reversal effect had happened, even if [Fire Ice Fusion Core] didn’t ntion it explicitly.
At the sa ti, I also noticed that the magic circle was draining more mana than the amount I used during my training. It seed like everything in the description was working in reverse, including the 50% mana cost.
Fire Ice Fusion Core: A unique skill made with the influence of [Split Soul Autonomy] and [Ruby Star]’s [Solar Core], requiring both skills, or their advanced or derivative form, to activate. Acting as an ergency cooling process by transforming nutrients and minerals within a solar dragon’s core to create an ice-aligned state, this skill temporarily transforms all fire-related skills, Abilities, spells, and other mana-reliant empowernt effects into ice as long as the skill is maintained with solar energy. Under the influence of the Nordoramsul lineage, it awakens or further empowers the abilities and tabolism of a Nordoramsul dragon, enabling advanced mineral diffusion and synthesis. While this skill is in effect, all ice-aligned usage will cost 50% more mana, but will apply all sub-effects of their original fire-aligned state
Though that was a small cost to pay as long as my ice spells could be used in my fire dragon form.
“Fimbulvetr Wall.”
Yet, the effects weren’t exactly the sa.
While the wall created a wall of fire, the fire didn’t seem anything special from what I could naturally conjure up. I clenched my hand and produced so purple flas before turning it into so corrosive obsidian. I then threw the rock through the firewall, but when I went to the other side, I could only sigh.
“True fire: it can burn anything without fuel,” Uriahn said with a deeper sigh. “Though I guess this would have been too easy. Honestly, I would have been pretty nervous if you had actually gained true fire mana, sohow.”
“Why?”
“Rember the notes ntioning God Istari? The mightiest mage in all history, and now the God of Knowledge and Magic in the Light Pantheon. How did they achieve such a feat? Well, he was the only mage in history to be known to have harbored four true elental manas.”
“‘Four?’ The notes ntioned three.”
He nodded. “Wind, water, and earth. Each ti, he gained the attention of the respective primarch and was granted a gift of true mana. Yet, as he tried to master the third mana, his body wasn’t able to contain it, causing an imbalance in the true mana in his body that started to slowly kill him like a disease. According to his journals, he remained bedridden until Goddess Aurena descended, healing him of his blight and, unintentionally, granting him the ability to cast true holy mana spells. To be frank, he did skip out on how it happened. The scholars who taught about that fact seed quite annoyed when he did so.”
“… Uh, so it’s dangerous?”
[“Inherently, yes, but like learning how to cast a spell from another elent, you will get used to it,”] [Providence’s Will] suddenly spoke. [“I do not possess mories concerning God Istari, but if I could hazard a guess for why there might be complications, I presu it was simply terrible affinity. God Istari, simply put, hadn’t gotten used to purer earth mana. You’ve seen how Earth used to behave. They are pretty ticulous, but their attitude towards humanoids isn’t quite the sa. They probably saw potential in God Istari and gave him their ‘gift’ before checking their affinity properly.”]
“… You know we shouldn’t talk ill of the dead, right? Even if they did sothing stupid.”
“You just said it,” Uriahn barked, causing to glare at him.
[“In any case, what matters is that you won’t have any issues since you are so heavily aligned towards fire, holy, and ice. Even if so true mana of the other elents were to enter your body, you can simply flush it out. Furthermore, your true ice and true holy will be heavily monitored, so don’t worry. I won’t ‘gift’ you the mana. I will train you in the sa manner you trained with Tasianna… but, well, only after you finish a divine Quest to reactivate [Light Primarch’s Miracle].”]
“Don’t worry about it. Once our trip down the sea begins, I can already guess that Goddess Aurena will give one.”
Am I correct?
I nodded after I got confirmation. “Besides, all of this is in preparation for to obtain true holy mana, right? First, I have to be able to manipulate light. As such… Kriffiek kllk gaaung!”
[Battle Frenzy (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]
Seeing my scales starting to glow white, the process was as simple as always… but to those who haven’t seen activate [Battle Frenzy] before, it probably was a massive surprise. I smirked when I saw Uriahn’s incredulous face, as if he wasn’t so sure what to think about it. When I waved at him, he shook his head, trying to refocus, only for to baffle him even further when light started to gather around my hand.
Light, whether from the fireplace or from the moon, ford a ball in my palm. I raised it to Uriahn’s face, causing him to wince. When he tried to look at it, though, I wrapped my hand into a fist as I swung it backward until it “stopped against sothing hard.” As if I had punched a window pane, it cracked like glass.
“Honestly, even amongst the blessed, I’m a bit of an outlier. [Battle Frenzy] grants a few skills, aside from my typical buffs. One of them is this: [Light Horizon],” I called as the skill activated, shattering the air behind , leaving only a large, gaping, cracked, black hole behind.
You couldn’t see anything behind it, as if everything in existence was being sucked into it, yet you could freely move in and out, as if this was an illusion. In a way, it was. After all, it only took a mont for the hole to be filled with light, returning the scenery to how it was just a mont ago.
“So by cheating, I ant using a skill that allows to manipulate light. The System is helping here, so I’m not exactly sure how I’m doing it,” I answered, feeling the sa with [Flash Fire] and my other [Battle Frenzy]-only skills.
“That is why I am here, no? Co, your grace. You have a full day tomorrow, so let’s finish this quickly.”
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