Chapter 201 First Step
"The Symbol of an Ankh engraved on your Mana core?"
Miranda had noticed that Nial's skin had a distinct glow. That was an indicator telling her that something about him had changed.
But she didn't pay it much attention until Mathias had blurted out what had happened.
He told Miranda about their hunting trip, in addition to what Nial had shared with him.
'If you let him, Mathias can talk a lot…about unnecessary things even more so…' Nial shook his head while thinking about his friend's habit of blabbering but he knew that his friend was eccentric at times but had no bad intentions.
That was also why a little smile appeared on his lips.
On the other hand, Mathias noticed only now that Nial's skin looked much smoother than before. There was also the distinct glow on his face that Miranda had seen at first glance.
However, that was not something Mathias paid much attention to. Instead, his focus stayed on the same thing as he asked Miranda,
"Do you know something about Symbols being engraved on one's Mana core after defeating variant Boss Beasts?"
To Mathias' disappointment, Miranda shook her head at first, only to recall something that might be related to Mathias' question.
"I'm not sure if that's related. But I know that there are a few powerful Originals, who brag about their mana core. They don't actually reveal what is so special about their mana core but they keep boasting about how they are better and unique than others because of their mana core."
Nial's ears twitched the moment he heard this. He may not know what the Symbol of Life was or how important it was but Nial had had his fair share of experiences with Gods and Divine beings thanks to the Late Darkness God's memories.
Every now and then blurred memories of the Darkness God's past became clearer in his mind. This allowed Nial to witness numerous things and to get a better understanding of how the Universe worked.
Of course, this didn't mean that he actually understood everything. Most memories were simply too confusing if one did not have a basic foundation of knowledge.
"Well, whatever. It doesn't matter what the meaning behind the Ankh is. Right now, I don't sense a difference from before and it's not hindering me in any way. We have wasted more than enough time already.
I'll go to sleep, see you two tomorrow!"
Saying so, Nial really left the library without another word.
He took a quick shower, went to bed, and slept a few hours.
The next day Nial had many things to do. This included starting to read all the books revolving around runic armaments.
With that in mind, Nial spent the entire week reading books, on increasing his proficiency with the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique and using some of his remaining time practicing the Ciran taria technique.
His control over mana became much more efficient after a single week of being fully focused on the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.
It was due to his increased control that his expenses increased as he continued to practice the Ciran taria technique.
But this also meant that his mana core was filled much faster which was what Nial was working for.
Nial wanted to share the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique with Mathias because his friend was jealous of his fast improvements in his control of mana.
Unfortunately, the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique was not something Mathias could use just because he wanted to.
The technique demanded the user to have neutral mana that has never been altered or mana in its untarnished form!
Because Mathias possessed the Earth elemental affinity, his mana was naturally altered toward the Earth element.
On the other hand, one might think that the same was the case with Nial's mana due to the fact that he could wield darkness in its purest form.
However, Nial's dark energy was created from inserting mana in the Odyssey seed, and not within his mana core.
His mana core had never been altered by an element, which was why Nial could easily practice the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.
Miranda had taken note of this, which was why she had used her connections to procure a special technique for Mathias.
It was not comparable to the technique Nial was using but it allowed Mathias to improve his control over mana, to enhance his combat power by being able to wield mana much easier and faster, and his absorption and annexation of mana accelerated as well!
After creating a wall, Mathias was much happier about the progress he made but was disrupted by Nial once again.
"What do you mean, you don't need to learn blacksmithing? I thought we had already talked about this??" Mathias was dumbfounded to hear his friend.
Their goal was merely to earn a huge fortune by creating and selling runic armaments, not to become Divine Blacksmiths, Alchemists, Inscribers, let alone Divine Runiciers. Wasting their precious time on something else would only hinder them from achieving their desired goal in the shortest time!
I said, "Let's focus on becoming Runiciers first instead of anything else, not that we don't need to learn blacksmithing at all…" Nial replied with a sigh, feeling that the discussion would be burdensome.
"But…" Mathias started, only for Miranda to intervene as well.
"If you guys think you can become perfect Blacksmiths, Alchemists, and Inscribers just because you want to create ungraded or Tier-0 runic armaments for the time being, you will waste lots of precious time.
Nial is correct, it is actually not necessary to learn much about Blacksmithing to create some basic, yet useful runic armaments. As long as you're able to cast weapons and armors, it will be fine.
As for the knowledge you need about alchemy, you might as well hire someone to create a customized concoction for you.
We can hire one alchemist, make him sign a non-disclosure agreement, and provide him with the recipes of the solutions. He or she can give you the solutions required to start inscribing the runic constellations necessary for the runic armaments to be completed. "
Nial nodded his head at everything Miranda said.
It might be better to learn blacksmithing and alchemy if they wanted to create high Tiered runic armaments. But even then, it would only make things easier. It was not actually mandatory.
That was why Nial had changed his initial plan from becoming proficient in the three most basic auxiliary occupations known by mankind, to focusing on becoming a Runicier.
Becoming a proper Runicier would be hard enough as it is.
"Well…okay then. So when will we start to practice inscribing runic constellations then?" Mathias was still not fully convinced but he just agreed to what the others said.
It was not as if he could do much against Miranda and Nial's suggestions, either.
Their goal was to earn money to increase their strength faster, not to have less time to spend on absorbing and annexing mana.
"I found the best runic solution to practice inscribing runic constellations. The ingredients required are extremely cheap and it won't be difficult for us to see, or sense, when we make a mistake, or if everything worked out properly!"
Miranda would join them in the training to inscribe runic constellations.
She was even more curious about runic constellations and runic armaments than the two young men. Her goal was to study every single book that Nial and Mathias had brought back from the ancient ruin's dungeon, not to earn huge amounts of wealth.
That was why she had already prepared everything, except finding a suitable alchemist, who would concoct their runic solutions in the future.
But hiring an alchemist was not necessary for the time being, to begin with. Miranda was an alchemist and it was no problem for her to mass-produce low-quality runic solutions.
It was no problem for her to concoct their runic solutions for the time being, however, she didn't have much time to spare in concocting some solutions.
That was why she merely created one big batch of a runic solution as her curiosity about runic armaments and runic constellations forced her to do so.
"Immediately, if you want, we can start immediately!" Miranda said, smiling confidently at Mathias.
Mathias' disappointment about Nial's earlier comment had been washed away. He jumped up from the ground after storing the emptied Origin crystals before waiting for Miranda to bring them to the place they would start practicing inscribing runic constellations.
'So fast? She is really not someone who wastes her precious time. Miranda is really peculiar.'
Nial had also gotten up from the ground, and the corner of his lips had curled upward as he followed Miranda, who had already turned around.
Both Mathias and Miranda seemed excited about what they were going to do. On the other hand, Nial was more calm and composed, knowing that it wouldn't be easy to learn to inscribe runic constellations.
'If our precision is good, we might be able to start manufacturing ungraded runic armaments in a month…but that will need lots of practice. Will we be able to start with the manufacturing process so early?'
The slightest mistake in the inscription process of runic constellations would decrease the constellation's potency drastically if one was lucky, that is!
Everything in a runic constellation was inter-connected, which meant that a single wrongly drawn line would usually lead to the destruction of the runic constellation.
The three of them knew that but Mathias and Miranda behaved as if they didn't think that it would be difficult to master inscribing runic constellations.
However, even the worst runic constellation was far more complex than most ordinary runes, simply because they were several times larger, with far more complex signs, and some areas were overlapping with one another.
Other than that, precisely controlling the runic solution in the inscription process was also important.
This sounded weird when hearing it for the first time, but it was necessary to create a network of mana veins while inscribing a runic constellation.
The firmer the mana vein in the runic constellation, the smoother and more accurately mana could flow through it.
Thus, the higher one's mastery and control the better the finished product, but this was only logical.
But even if Nial knew all of this, even he couldn't believe how difficult it was to inscribe runic constellations when he and the others finally began with their first practice session.
'Will one month really be enough?'
**
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