Chapter 345 Unknown Goals

Nial felt that the tight security of the Golden City was pretty helpful.

It allowed the merchants to feel secure enough to exhibit all the ability crystals to attract potential customers without the need to worry about getting robbed.

The crime rate in the Golden City was eerily low, which was also very pleasant to hear. He was in possession of a great treasure, whether it was the Dryad Queen's tear or actually just the artificially enhanced Dryad Princess' tear.

Whether it was the former or the latter, both were valuable goods, which even high-ranked Originals would love to steal. Thus, Nial could feel much safer, knowing that the security was high enough to allow everyone to fall at ease including himself.

Nial had been worried initially but he felt comfortable enough not to rush to the Cathedral where he could be teleported back to the Elven territory. Instead, he was calmly shopping as if he had all the time in the Universe.

In the end, when it was already noon of the following day, Nial had used up all his Origin crystals. He had even sold the Tier-2 Runic Lightsaber in order to earn a few more Origin crystals.

Nial needed the money more than the runic armaments as he could recreate them with enough time and practice.

"35 different materials, 13 books, and two ability crystals…my shopping spree was really nice!" Nial figured while looking at the red ability crystals that lay in his hand.

One was the ability crystal he would soon bind to himself, while the other one was for Mathias. It was hard to find ability crystals that were useful for Mathias, which was why he chose to offer his friend a helping hand.

Nial needed as many powerful allies as possible when Jundra's planetary mana core would finally awaken.

Thus, the [Fire affinity(Comprehension)] was certainly one of the best ways to increase his friend's combat power.

Ever since Nial had found out that it was not necessary to purchase abilities that could be used with versatility, irrespective of whether it was possible to upgrade them or not, his approach to purchasing ability crystals had changed a bit.

At the Deux rank, Ability Stigmas could be trained and improved, in turn, strengthening the abilities altogether. Thus, it wouldn't even be necessary for Mathias to get his hands on affinity crystals with the comprehension tag because he could upgrade his affinities in the future.

Nial bought the fire affinity crystal with the comprehension tag nonetheless because it was always better to be able to create their own domain of rules, instead of abiding by the existing rules.

If Mathias could upgrade his affinity's strength faster by comprehending them, it would be a waste to deprive him of this opportunity.

Comprehension was something every affinity wielder required to be truly powerful with when controlling their affinity. Thus, Mathias could kill two flies with one stone by learning affinities with the comprehension tag, especially since his comprehension of elemental affinities was exceptional.

His Innate ability [Elemental comprehension] was not just for show and Nial hoped for the best in Mathias by using the biggest chunk of his fortune for the Fire affinity crystal.

"I had never expected to find only a single ability crystal for myself, though…" Nial started to mumble to himself as he was trying to find his way back to the cathedral.

He wanted to return to the Elven territory, specifically Yggdrasil, and return home afterward.

At home, nobody would bother him when he would bind an ability crystal to his body even if some catastrophe were to occur.

Nial expected a lot from the ability crystal he found, especially since both the Curse [Hodur's Heir] and his Odyssey seed reacted intensively to the red ability crystal.

This was also the reason why he wanted nobody to bother him when binding the ability to his mana core.

Many things had changed about Nial but he was pretty sure that he did not want to attract the attention of any truly powerful being.

Thus, he left the Golden City by using the teleportation circle that brought him back to the Elven territory.

Nial noticed that Felicia, the Balgris, who worked at the Cathedral, looked weirdly at him, but he ignored this entirely as he returned back home.

He knew that she might have had questions about the video he sent her when Finn caused trouble, yet, Nial didn't feel like answering them.

Felicia didn't force him to say anything either. She was already bothered enough by the uncertain future the Balgris race would have to face in the Golden City, all the other parts of Ximatra, and the galaxies. Thus, she left him on his own.

Upon arriving in the Elven territory on Jundra, Nial took a deep breath of fresh air. He smiled lightly and allowed the vigor of the flourishing nature around him to infiltrate him through every single pore in his body.

The exhaustion of the last few days was quickly replaced with energy as a bunch of Elves rushed toward him.

"Sir Orin, you've already returned? Were you disqualified??" One of the higher authorities of the Elven on Ximatra asked skeptically. His eyes were filled with worry, which he tried to hide. His attempts to hide his true emotions were miserable and Nial could only smile in return, shaking his head.

"Everything is fine. There were a few…interferences in the U21 Runicier tournament but that was swiftly dealt with. Can you take me to the portal?" Nial didn't feel like staying any longer on Ximatra, and the Elf nodded his head immediately.

He didn't know what was going on or if Nial had succeeded but that was not something the Elf had to know, to begin with. It was just that he had been curious, not like he was a higher authority to know about the truth before Nial would be allowed to return.

Thus, the Elf took Nial through the huge forest, straight to the portal leading to Yggdrasil.

Nial retrieved numerous runic armaments from his spatial ring, which he activated without hesitation before he raised a leg to step through the portal.

His head flicked backward, showing a bright flash to the Elves, who had followed him like a large group of ducklings following their mother.

"Don't look so sad. It's time for the Elves to be a bit happier," Nial said, giving a tiny hint to the clueless Elves before he stepped through and his body disappeared inside the portal.

He left behind many confused Elves and it took them quite a while to realize that Nial had given them a hint.

"So he succeeded?" One of them asked while another one nodded his head vigorously.

"He must have succeeded! Why else would he tell us to be happier??" A female Elf exclaimed.

Following Nial's disappearance, all the Elves began to exclaim in excitement. They were certain that Nial had succeeded, which would mean that the wish of their Empress was likely to come true.

The Empress wanted her race to become powerful enough to overcome all obstacles and to be never forced to retreat if a powerful race would try to force them to obey their commands.

Being weaker than others was the worst and the Empress didn't want to bow her head in front of anyone anymore. Not a single member of her race ought to be forced to submit to others, and to achieve this, Jundra was the most important chess piece in her grand plan.

She wanted the Elven race to be one of the powerful rulers of Jundra if it was not possible to reign the huge, unawakened planet all by herself.

And to achieve this, she would do everything necessary, even if that meant she would have to die in the process. Her race's future was more important than her life, and the Royal Princess was the best heir one could wish for!

The Empress always said that this was her sole reason to attempt to get a foothold on Jundra, but everyone knew that this was just one of her many reasons.

Nobody questioned the Empress' reasoning but everyone knew that their race's future was never to become the strongest race in the universe.

The Empress knew the Innate talent of all the Elven races much better than anyone else.

Thus, the real question was never how the Empress wanted her race to become the strongest, but rather…what her true plans were!

Even Nial began to wonder what exactly the Empress of the Elven race was planning.

He didn't trust her wholeheartedly because the memories of the God of Darkness prevented him from doing so, and Nial was thankful for that.

After all, he received more information about Jundra, and its uniqueness from a stranger than the Elves dared to reveal!

Siegfried may not have revealed a lot, but calling Jundra, the Origin, and hinting that the planet had once been awakened already, was more than enough for Nial to understand that the human race on Jundra was more fucked up than they could have ever believed.

It was even worse than the worst possible scenario they could imagine. After all, there must have been a reason for the awakened Jundra to fall into a slumber…or was that even what happened?

For now, Nial didn't have the upper hand when it came to demanding anything from the Elves, neither in their territory nor inside Yggdrasil.

Only on Jundra, he was given the upper hand because he was needed there as a powerhouse and Runicier.

Unfortunately, that was not enough for him to actually act like he could demand whatever he wanted from the Elves.

Nial had other worries as well, but deep down he knew that humans were using the Elves and vice versa was true as well!

The advance and changes of the dynamics of their relationships would be decided over the course of time, which was why Nial believed it may be a bit cruel to have any prejudices against the Elves. After all it was not his personal experience but Damian's memories that made him recall many bad things the Elves did in the past that had been long since forgotten by most.

Nial was not sure how long it took before he emerged inside Yggdrasil's Holy Hall, where two High Elves saw him.

They reported his arrival immediately, which prevented him from taking a breather to calm down.

The Elves treated him with the highest respect and it didn't take long before the Royal Princess appeared.

She was wearing a beautiful, revealing nightgown that showed something unique on her back.

'Her Fairies' Blessing is engraved on her upper back?' Nial realized while sensing that enormous amounts of mana and vigor were swirling toward her.

While she had hidden her back with concealing clothes before, this was not the case right now.

And this was also why much more mana and vigor of the Sacred tree was swirling towards her.

'Looks like revealing her blessing to mana and vigor amplifies its efficiency!' Nial understood clearly, which was how he knew that his arrival pulled the Royal Princess out of her training.

He smiled when he noticed this and stepped forward with confident strides.

"Your Majesty, I have returned!" Nial greeted her, bowing deeply toward the Royal Princess with a smug smile on his face.

'This bastard!!'