'I can actually understand them!' Nial nearly blurted out.
He couldn't understand the language the Elf spoke, but he could decipher the meaning behind his hand signs.
This was quite exciting, even more so because Nial knew that he didn't know most of the hand signs the Elf had made.
'How am I able to understand him, though?' Nial could clearly perceive the slightest trace of mana that circulated through the Elf's hands.
This made it easier for Nial to visualize his hand and every single detail about it.
However, what Nial had yet to understand was that the hand motions and the signs the Elf made were not the only means of communication.
The Elf used both his hand motions and his mana in a precise manner to convey his message to Nial.
Mana had its own language, and only those loved by mana could understand it.
Thus, upon seeing Nial's astonished expression, the Elf smiled faintly.
'This brave fighter might have the scent of a destroyer, but mana still seems to love him. Interesting.'
It didn't take the Elf a second to investigate Nial.
The oldest remnants of mana couldn't be perceived by ordinary existences. However, the Elf did so quite easily.
With that kind of special trait, he immediately knew that Nial held two destructive powers that were both related to darkness.
Mana was not biased, in any way, but there was still a clear difference if mana adored, or loved someone!
In the end, mana would never reject any kind of living being. However, it wouldn't usually adore someone, who might use mana to cause destruction.
That was also why the Elves had changed their way of living; to be loved by the neutral mana. Being loved by mana made living easier, it allowed one to advance in the rankings much faster than anyone else, and one gained various benefits.
After thinking about what to do for a few seconds, Nial tried to motion his mana and hands once again.
Even if Nial had yet to realize that mana communicated with the Elves, he only knew that the combination of mana and one's hand signs were another means for the Elves to converse on special days, such as the Day of Silence, for example.
-"Hello Sir Midnight Elf, I'm sorry for the intrusion, but I hope your journey within the descending plateau and the arrival were not too tiring."- Nial wanted to say.
His hand signs were not perfect, but he also chose to speak in the human language. This didn't necessarily help the Elf to understand him completely in the first attempt, but it was certainly helpful for the Elf to learn to understand him much faster.
From what he understood, Elves were experts at ancient languages, which was also why they were known as very good Runiciers, and Alchemists.
They had deciphered the knowledge of numerous races after learning their language which allowed them to progress much faster than many other races.
That was why Nial was trying to make them learn the human language. After all, that would be the lowest requirement to start discussing literally anything, whether it were business negotiations, private chats, or an exchange of knowledge.
However, that was not everything Nial was currently trying to do. He revealed two particular pieces of information to the Midnight Elf standing right in front of him.
First, he referred to the Elf, as 'Midnight Elf', clearly indicating that Nial knew what a Midnight Elf was and that the Elf in front of him was one.
Second, he had also spoken about the descending Plateau, while simultaneously hinting about the difficulties the Elves might have faced to arrive on Jundra.
Only someone, who had been in a descending Plateau should know how dangerous and difficult it was to actually survive and emerge out of the plateau's portal unscathed.
As for the number of beings who knew what exactly a Midnight Elf is, there weren't many.
'An Intelligent Destroyer, who is adored by mana! I can neither sense the Fragment of a Divinity, nor the presence of a God hiding within him. Who are you?' The Midnight Elf wondered, his eyes narrowing as he kept observing the young man.
As for the reason why nobody could sense Nial's Odyssey seed, it was pretty simple. The Odyssey seed was the remnant of the Late God of Darkness' Divinity.
However, as a deceased existence, the God of Darkness' Divinity had lost its true power. The sentience within the Odyssey seed was a part of the last remnants belonging to the Divinity's true power.
It could be used to help the Soul of the God of Darkness reincarnate as long as a perfect vessel was found, and enough energy was procured by the said vessel.
But at the same time, the remnants of the Divinity fragment's true power could also be used to transfer the Divinity's power to a new existence.
As long as the requirements were met and enough energy accumulated, the Trials of the God could be awakened with the use of the Divinity fragment of the respective God.
Within the Trials of the God, the last remnant of the sentience and soul of the deceased God would be awakened as well.
This would be the only time when the actual God of Darkness could be considered 'alive'. And that was also only under the condition that 'alive' meant that the last fractions of his soul were forcefully awakened to allow Nial to progress in the Trials of the God.
As for the Symbol of Life which was the creation of a minuscule part of a Divinity belonging to a Divine existence closely related to the essence of Life, it was the reason for Nial to be adored by mana and life itself.
However, the Midnight Elf was not able to sense it because the Divine existence's sentience within the Ankh had been destroyed by the Odyssey seed.
The Ankh's power was tightly sealed within the Odyssey seed, merged with Nial's dark energy, and accumulated to be of use for the future.
It was impossible for the Midnight Elf to sense anything. But that was exactly what confused him so much.
After all, Nial shouldn't know the names 'descending plateau', and 'Midnight Elf'.
Even the memories of the Late God of Darkness were directly translated into the human language. This was one of the few reasons why Nial had difficulties learning the languages that were used the most in the universe when trying to converse with others.
However, that was perfectly fine with Nial because he could tell that time would solve all of his problems.
Fortunately, one of Nial's small tricks applied to the given situation, simply because he was not ought to know a few specific words.
'Do I really want to implicate him in this mess? Or should I just take a different path, and keep him out of it?' Nial started to wonder while trying to avoid smiling.
The Midnight Elf was still looking at him intently, and Nial chose to make use of the non-violent path after he 'heard' what he had to say.
-"Hello Native Humans of Jundra. We did not face any troubles in our journey. Thanks for your concern. My name is Valvian Hy?ert, and I am the Midnight Elf of this descending plateau, the Forest of Life, that is correct.
How do you know about the term Midnight Elf?"- Valvian Hy?ert, the silver-haired Midnight Elf of the Forest of Life, introduced himself and asked.
He used various signs and the mana he rapidly and accurately released.
Nial was very interested in both the hand signs and the mana. This was mostly the case due to the fact that he could understand everything the Midnight Elf said.
He was truly shocked about this, and could hardly contain himself because it looked like the language barrier didn't exist between him and Valvian Hy?ert.
'As long as the language barrier won't be a problem between me and any of the Elves, this would be amazing!'
Nial had numerous reasons to approach the Elves in such a straightforward manner, especially because they were great Runiciers, and Alchemists, their control over mana was exceptional, and their combat prowess often exceeded their rank.
In simple terms, Elves were a race that could be considered innately very talented, and each of them was exceptional.
And now that he knew that they found humans likable just like elephants found humans cute, of course, Nial would try to approach them!
Nial couldn't care less about that. He had already perceived that Damian was not exactly in a favorable position when it came to the human and elven race. However, Nial was a human, and the God of Darkness had chosen him as his inheritor, vessel, or whatever.
In that case, Damian's opinion and bad memories about both the human and elven races were accepted, but not actually digested and reflected in Nial's opinion.
He was his own person, and even if the Odyssey seed had changed his behavior, and the memories of the deceased God of Darkness had a big influence on the changes in his character, Nial was still…Nial!
-"I had read about the title 'Midnight Elf' in a book that I found in one of the many dungeons I conquered. There wasn't much information about Elves, and I only came across the term 'Midnight Elf' described in that book. However, I know that the Head Elf of a group that ventures to new planets to explore them."-
Nial could have just said that he had heard it from Silvian, indirectly exposing him as the incarnation of a God, but the God of Saints and Devils had not done anything bad to him yet.
Thus, Nial decided to have some mercy on the poor incarnation of the once powerful God.
'I really wonder what happened to Silvian. Well, for Damian's sake, I should give him a chance, I guess.'
If Silvian were to know that Nial had almost pushed him into the pits of hell, the God of Saints and Devil wouldn't hesitate to drag Nial with him.
This was one of the few reasons why Nial didn't say anything to the Midnight Elf.
He smiled faintly at the Elf and didn't show any hesitation or fear in front of the Prometheus Elf. He was much stronger than Nial, and so was every other Elf, who had emerged from the green, levitating portal.
Despite the stronger existences around him, Nial could still smile and move around nonchalantly and his body language revealed that he was at ease.
For Valvian, this made the human in front of him even more unique.
He clearly knew that he and the Elves around him were the strongest existences on Jundra for the time being.
It had taken their Empress not less than two centuries to create the descending plane so that it would help her enact her plan perfectly.
However, something had gone wrong, forcing the Empress to initiate the descent of the plateau several decades earlier than expected.
Thus, instead of merely draining her Divinity, the Empress' Divinity was nearly shattered, and she was forced into a state of weakness.
Under normal circumstances, no God would nearly sacrifice their Divinity just to allow the descent of a plateau harboring close to 1000 Elves.
It would make no sense, not on a planet where the strongest beings are at the Prometheus rank.
That was, if Jundra was just that…a normal planet and if there wouldn't have been a prophecy…
**
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