Chapter 365 Peak

Many things had changed since Jundra's planetary mana core had awoken.

The vast majority of humans had awoken their Origin. Numerous talents with Innate ability were given birth during Jundra's awakening and they received an influx of high and potent energy in the form of mana that they had been eagerly waiting for.

This was the first time for the whole planet to release tremendous amounts of mana, giving everyone the ability to become stronger even without the use of Origin crystals.

Most couldn't even make use of Origin crystals because the surrounding mana was way denser and higher in purity.

The most Common, Superior, and Champion graded Origin crystals that were once highly sought after now turned obsolete in an instant. Their value decreased because nobody needed them anymore and there was suddenly an overflowing amount of unused and cheap Origin crystals.

However, oddly enough, this overflow of unused and cheap Origin crystals disappeared every now and then.

Every last crystal was purchased, and nobody knew who was behind it. The only clue that hinted in a specific direction was the fact that the Origin crystals had been purchased in exchange for runic armaments, high-tiered ones at that.

Only a few humans could create high-tiered runic armaments along with many Elves, who had the capabilities to create runic armaments.

Every single Elf with a certain status had now learned the most basic information about Runiciers. They could engrave Basic runic constellations, and create Tier-0 runic armaments.

The value of Tier-0 runic armaments had increased drastically since hundreds of millions of new Originals had now appeared in the last weeks.

Since the awakening of Jundra's planetary mana core, almost two months had passed and numerous mysterious things had occurred.

The new Elves, who had appeared out of the Empress' portal, had gained control of their own people.

The Forest of Life was overflowing with Life, especially since High and Sacred Elves had emerged from the Empress' portal.

In fact, even the Royal Princess had chosen to descend onto Jundra to make sure that the other Elven sub-races wouldn't cause trouble to her subordinates.

She and the other High and Sacred Elven had feared that the violent and destructive Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves would bully and possibly even kill their subordinates.

However, upon emerging on Jundra, they were shocked to realize that the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves were living peacefully with the other Elven races.

This was a welcome change but even the newly arriving Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves couldn't understand why that was the case. Only when the three brats of the Nightshadow Elven race approached their seniors to talk to them did the older and stronger Elves realize what was going on.

The news they had received was shocking enough for them to abandon everything else and to disappear almost instantaneously in search for something or someone.

After they returned, the Nightshadow Elves at the Deux and Keltian rank didn't even think of opposing the words of the Royal Princess.

She was ready to fight the Nightshadow Elves with her life on the line if that was needed, but this didn't seem to be necessary. Princess Evalyne had no idea what was going on but she could tell that the attitude of the Elven, who had lived longer in the Forest of Life was different from the newcomers.

Everyone, who had just emerged on Jundra, instinctively treated the humans they encountered with less respect than the 'veteran' Elven.

Princess Evalyne was not different from them. She had only treated Nial differently because he was powerful and Yggdrasil had accepted him.

Nial was loved and adored by both mana and nature. Accepting him as if he was one of their kind was not a problem for her and her brethren. However, she couldn't award all the other humans the same level of trust.

They seemed filthy and like barbarians to her. This was her instinctive evaluation of the humans, who were neither loved by nature nor mana.

Thus, Princess Evalyne had hoped to find Nial to make him the only acceptable representative of the human race. After all, she was only willing to speak to him.

But, Nial was nowhere to be found.

Not even Master Crevian or the Moonlight Elf Valvian knew where exactly Nial was currently located.

The only thing everyone knew about was that Nial was the reason for everyone being able to move freely during Jundra's planetary mana awakening.

He had absorbed the purest mana that the planetary core had released for two weeks straight before he seemed to have disappeared.

Nial was nowhere to be found and the only hints of him still being alive was the fact that his creations popped up in the market every now and then.

His Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild had been growing rapidly. Their reputation was great, and many newly awakened Originals wanted to be nourished by joining his associations and becoming powerful Originals or well-known Artisans.

Nial's Onyx Association and his Orion Artisan Guild had amongst the best training programs with the best reputation and nobody could rival them.

It was a rare sign for groups like Nial's Association and Artisan Guild to appear and flourish on their own without the support or interference of other organizations but that was exactly what had happened.

No organization attempted to tarnish Nial's reputation because all of them needed him more than ever.

All the organizations wanted his Tier-2 runic armaments, some even asked him to become affiliates, but Nial only accepted a few commissions.

Whenever one of his creations was seen in the hands of his people, everyone was in awe. The more time passed, the stronger Nial's creations seemed to become as he constantly worked on eliminating even the tiniest flaws but that was only obvious.

New dungeons had emerged, unveiling new, better materials to use for stronger runic armaments, and the Orion Artisan group had quickly gotten their hands on them.

The new dungeons were much larger than the old ones and most of them were only temporarily manifested. The Gods who manifested them wanted to send their subjects to Jundra to wreak havoc and kill the existing life on the planet so as to make space for their races to emerge.

To their misfortune, this didn't work very well around the Forest of Life and the nine shelters of mankind. The Elves had chosen to protect and defend the humans from the incoming threats for the time being.

With hundreds of millions of awakened allies on their side, it would be much easier for the Elves to gain control of large pieces of land in the future.

No God was able to create a permanent link between planets yet, not if they didn't want to sacrifice their Divinity to create a permanently activated portal from one planet to another.

Even the Elven Empress' portal was not a permanently activated portal. Only a few hundred Elves could emerge every other month. This was not a lot, but it was still more than the number of beings of any other race that could emerge on Jundra.

After Jundra's sentience awoke from its deep slumber, it restricted the access of Gods actively. They were not supposed to emerge on Jundra, especially since their powers were enough to cause death and destruction to numerous continents.

Jundra had yet to gain the strength to endure the battle of Gods to determine who was supposed to reign supreme. And until the Origin was powerful enough, it wouldn't let Gods come too close to it!

This was something Nial had realized. He was currently in seclusion, absorbing tremendous amounts of mana using all the Origin crystals he had gotten his hands on.

Even before Jundra's mana awakening occurred, Nial had created a specific isolated place for his family and himself.

Everyone had their own private room, which could store and hold mana within its four walls. The outside mana would be pulled toward the isolated rooms and seep inside through the walls, but it couldn't leave as long as it was configured that way.

Nial made use of the function he had installed in the room all by himself while adding the function to release mana below a certain purity degree from the isolated room to the outside to filter out the impurities.

Only the purest mana was left behind in Nial's room, allowing him to advance his mana core's rank rapidly.

There was no time for him to waste, especially now!

What his fellow brethren didn't seem to have realized until now was that Origin crystals were created out of the purest form of mana.

It may not feel like this at the beginning because there was also impure mana mixed into the Origin crystals but by separating the impure mana from the purest form of mana, it was easy to accelerate advancements in the ranks.

After purchasing millions of Origin crystals of all three grades that the human Originals had gotten their hands on until now, Nial was seated in the isolated room, using the functions he had activated in the room to disperse the impure mana while continuing to absorb the pure mana and becoming the strongest version of himself possible.

The Nightshadow Elves, who had visited him at one point, had created their own home on Nial's land without asking him. Even if Nial didn't actively use his Essence of Darkness, the overflowing energy he unleashed without realizing was more than enough for the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves to feel that they could improve their strength by staying close to him.

Nial gave them a few orders, which they followed without delay, especially since the given orders were tasks they would have completed either way.

He wanted the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves to conquer dungeons as quickly as possible and collect everything of value.

Simultaneously, Nial gave them customized Tier-2 runic armaments without demanding anything in return. Thus, the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves ended up becoming Nial's subjects without realizing it.

They readily followed his orders, provided him with all the resources he needed, and fought the opponents who opposed him, if there were any, to begin with.

That way, more and more time passed.

A total of three months after the mana awakening had passed before Nial finally got up from the ground, which released tremendous waves of energy as the millions of dried-up Origin crystals turned into countless shreds.

Nial was greeted by his parents, his sister, Hana, and their masters, Mathias, and Miranda when he returned to the mansion. The isolated rooms underground had been built below the best-protected location in the shelter; exactly under his plot of land where the Onyx association was located.

Walking home didn't take long and it allowed Nial to spend some time adjusting to the advancement in strength. His physique had improved drastically, but that was not everything.

Even without the use of [Mana Sense] he was able to perceive and visualize everything and everyone in the shelter.

Thus, he knew what awaited him at home, and he was not surprised.

"Are you all living here now?" Nial asked, shaking his head as he quietly added,

"You guys are not homeless, right?"

It was obvious that Nial was joking but nobody dared to say anything. Even Kristine, who was known for clashing with Nial didn't say a single word.

"You…are not yet at the Prometheus rank, right?" Kirlia suddenly asked as all the color drained from her face.

"Obviously not. Why are you asking? Can't you sense what rank I am at?" He asked in return, smiling craftily.

"No…I cannot sense your strength anymore…" Kirlia answered almost immediately, unable to get her act together.

She was pretty sure that Nial couldn't improve so quickly, and that something had to be wrong. However, Nial just smiled after seeing her fluster, not intending to provide her with an answer in any way.

"He is at the 9th Mirae rank…I think," Kristine said, not exactly sure if she perceived correctly. After all, it was impossible for Nial to be at the 9th Mirae rank, considering that his strength seemed to exceed hers by now.

But that ought to be impossible…it couldn't be true!

"Pretty smart, little Maverick!" Nial remarked while circulating mana through his nine Ancient Origin Rings to unleash his unbending power at once.

"Did we raise a monster?!" Miles suddenly asked, looking at the pressure his son released. He could hardly breathe as the wind was knocked out of his lungs.

Yet, Maline didn't answer her husband's question. She just looked at her son, worry gleaming in her eyes.

And at that moment, Miles realized what his wife was troubled with.

'I completely forgot about them…'