Chapter 321 The Golden City

? This time, Nial didn't face a lot of issues when traveling through space. His range of perception was restricted to three meters, his [Mana Sense] was deactivated, and he had used several runic armaments to block his senses altogether.

He couldn't smell, taste, or hear anything. Only the vibrations around him were barely perceptible. Nial had to know when he arrived on Ximatra, after all.

There was a week left before the U21 Runicier tournament would start and he could register until three days before the tournament would officially begin.

Many talented Runicier may appear all of a sudden, three days before the tournament's start, like an unexpected entry. These black sheeps may turn the progress and rankings of the entire tournament upside down, but that was not something Master Crevian expected to happen.

He was pretty sure that he had obtained the information of all promising Runiciers below the age of 21. Nial trusted Master Crevian in this regard and he learned everything he was given to study.

The information about all the highly likely participants of the U21 Runicier tournament was quite impressive, and it allowed him to understand more about his future opponents.

There was not much time left before the U21 Runicier tournament would start but Nial had a great plan to increase his chances of victory as much as possible.

He would finish creating the third Ancient Origin ring, which would, in turn, increase his mana sensory ability, his [Mana Sense] Innate ability, and much more. This would make things much easier for him.

Nial was not sure how long it took them until they arrived on Ximatra because he had been deep in thought but he felt pretty great when he removed the effect of the runic armaments. His senses were fully unleashed, which made it easier for him to perceive more about his surroundings.

Everything was pretty simple in comparison to the ginormous Sacred tree. Thus, Nial was not very impressed when he was surrounded by many large trees that were hundreds of meters tall. Nial sensed everything around him clearly, whether it was powerful Elves, or animals roaming around freely through the surroundings.

It was nice to perceive other living forms than insects and Elves around him. The beasts around him were pretty interesting as well. Their connection to nature was strong, which was something Nial was able to perceive quite easily.

After he had been connected with Yggdrasil for an entire week, Nial had changed a lot. He could quickly decipher the relation of other beings with certain things, whether it was their relation to the elements, mana, or nature.

This was quite interesting and directly related to the influence the Symbol of Life had on Nial. His behavior had been influenced by the Symbol of Life. He didn't really feel like conquering dungeons anymore if it was not necessary. This felt a bit weird but it had also been weird to enter dungeons, for the sake of conducting his test, as well.

Nial had thought about lots of things during the week he had been in Yggdrasil and his mind had been cleared entirely. The combined effect of the Symbol of Life, the Fairies' Blessing, and Yggdrasil's tremendous vigor had allowed Nial to do many things he would have never been capable of even attempting to do on his own.

Right now, the surrounding nature provided him with lots of vigor and mana as well, much more than he could handle. However, it was not possible for any of that to compare to the environment in Yggdrasil, whether Nial could handle it or not.

The Elven territory was usually quite simple. It had an abundance of all kinds of plants, huge trees, and tree houses. Nature all around was flourishing and growing without anyone restricting it.

In exchange, the Elves were able to make use of nature to have natural protection and special means to become stronger by using the natural resources around them efficiently.

Nial understood this clearly and he had spent an insane amount of time with nature.

During the last months, he had always been in the Forest of Life, or somewhere close to nature.

The only exception was the time he had been in Liondra, or another shelter when he had been searching for his family.

Nature was great but it was also something Nial didn't need to have around him in overflowing masses, or for a prolonged duration.

That was also why he was glad when Princess Evalyne led him to the teleportation circle that would bring him straight to the Golden City.

"I really don't understand you. Yggdrasil won't tell me why he wanted to stay connected to you for the entire week, and I heard that the Queen of Fairies gave you her blessing as well. No human was able to receive her grace…except you. Yggdrasil and Aine hatched this idea and brought it to life, and I have no idea why," Princess Evalyne chose to state the facts quite unabashedly.

In her opinion, none of that made sense. It was obvious that Nial's connection with nature and mana was strong but it was not as if humans like him had never existed before. Even if something about Nial's body might have attracted Yggdrasil's interest, the Queen of all Fairies should have never actually given him the Fairies' Blessing.

It took Evalyne a long time, numerous prayers, and certain promises before she received the Fairies' Blessing, while Nial had simply shown up and received it just like that. Something was definitely wrong but she had no idea what magic spell Nial had cast or how he had gotten in Aine's good books so easily.

Nial was not an unlikeable person but his progress still irked her.

"Would you believe me if I were to say that I don't understand it either?" Nial countered before he continued to walk. He knew that the Symbol of Life was the biggest reason for nature and mana to be closer to him, but Yggdrasil was a sentient Sacred tree. It was on a completely different scale than a mere Lesser Divinity Fragment. Nial was pretty sure that Yggdrasil's existence alone was already comparable to a True God. Thus, nothing really made sense.

But Nial never really questioned the deeper meaning behind it because he knew that he wouldn't receive an answer to his doubts, either way.

Princess Evalyne looked at him for a few seconds before she averted her gaze from Nial. She accepted his answer, whether or not she believed it, and fell in steps beside him.

They reached the large-scale teleportation circle that had been created by Master Runiciers, and Princess Evalyne wished him good luck.

"You can always use the Golden City's main teleportation route to teleport back here. It shouldn't be a problem…and even if there is, you have the messenger crystal that connects to the stationed Commander, me, Crevian's, and so on. That should be more than enough.

Don't create any trouble and don't waste all the Origin crystals we gave you! They're worth a fortune!" Princess Evalyne sounded like a mother, who was sending her son off on his first solo trip in the wild.

Nial smiled weirdly but he didn't say anything. He waved his hand, stepped in the center of the teleportation circle, and inserted his mana into it, initiating the teleportation.

He began to smile when he was teleported far away. Nial had no idea how far the Golden City was from the Elven's territory but it didn't really seem to matter because it felt like only ten seconds passed before he emerged at his designated location.

Upon reaching, Nial heard numerous voices from around him. Some were hoarse and barely understandable, while others resembled soft, relaxing music. The jumble of noises and voices around him flooded Nial for a moment but he had already expected this.

Because his mind had already been prepared, the voices, the smells, and the vibrations all around him were accepted without delay and digested. Nial visualized his surroundings without an issue by using some mana to activate [Mana Sense].

This allowed him to understand that he had been teleported straight to the center of the Golden City. He was currently inside a large cathedral made out of some sort of stone. The area he appeared in was basically an elevated platform, and by walking downstairs, he immediately encountered a Guard, who wanted to see his papers.

"Identification pledge and certification of health please!" The Guard demanded in a dry tone. He spoke in a foreign language while staring down at Nial.

The Guard was of a race Nial had never perceived with his range of perception before. All he could gauge was that he was a man who was 2.5 meters tall with scales covering his entire body and the fact that he had a lizard tail. However, other than that, he looked human, which was quite interesting.

"I don't have an Identification pledge yet. I wasn't born on Ximatra. I am here for the U21 Runicier tournament," Nial answered in the same language as the Guard of the Stilak race.

'Good that I learned some of the languages they speak here to be barely able to communicate…Master Crevian was right in teaching me their language before I left Jundra…I nearly forgot that they don't speak the same language as we do on Jundra or Elvish…' He recalled while wiping off his sweat as the Guard observed him with a scrutinizing look.

"What about Certification of Health?" The Guard asked in his hoarse voice but Nial just shook his head.

"I would like to undergo a health examination in the Golden City," He offered, and the Guard nodded his head as if it was nothing special.

His two-meter-long tail pointed in a specific direction, where someone else was seated behind a counter. The woman behind the counter was attending to other customers right now.

'Someone from a winged race…that's so amazing…' He could only think as he listened to the next words the Guard told him.

"Felicia, the woman at the corner will provide you with a temporary Identification pledge. If you want a permanent one, you will have to undergo multiple tests, but if you're only here for the U21 Runicier tournament that won't be necessary. As for the Health certification, Felicia will help you with this as well!"

The Guard seemed to have decided that Nial wasn't a gatecrasher and was now helping him. This was why Nial flashed a smile at him before he followed the instructions.

He waited in the line in front of the counter until it was his turn before he paid a few Origin crystals as a processing fee to receive his temporary Identification pledge. All his information, his DNA, and his mana fluctuations were noted in the identification pledge and if something would happen, or he would do something, it would allow the authorities to identify him.

This required many questions to be answered, such as where he came from, what his name was, his special abilities, the abilities he bound, his Mana core's rank, and so on.

Nial lied in response to a few questions because he couldn't say that he came from Jundra. It would attract suspicion, which was the last thing Nial needed right now.

As for the secrets of his body, he revealed everything that would be unveiled with the Health examination he was about to undergo either way, while everything else remained his secret.

For the Health examination, Nial was brought to a small room inside the cathedral. He underwent all kinds of tests that were administered for the safety of the city so as to ensure that he wouldn't bring any highly contagious infections into the city.

Nothing was wrong with his body. On the contrary, he passed each test with flying colors, which attracted the interest of the woman, who was running the tests and observed everything with bright purple eyes.

"You seem to be full of vigor, young man. This is rare for someone at your rank~"

**

If you want to support me use your golden tickets and powerstones.

You can also visit my pa treon: Pa treon.com/HideousGrain

More character images and nice chats about the HideVerse:

https://discord.gg/EdsDgFVWwZ

Link also in my description.

Do you like it? Leave a review and add it to the library!