—–

After having been given the truth about the existence of monsters in Terra and their origin is related to the Goddess of Chaos Axitl, Frank had decided to formulate another question regarding such topic. ​​

“Dungeons? I have never seen one, where are they? How do they appear? Do they just come out of nothing?” asked Frank, with honest and innocent curiosity. On Earth, there was nothing named ‘dungeons’, but there were special Realms where monsters would appear through the enormous amount of concentrated mana, and also Magic Domains that were considered small Realms artificially created in smaller scales.

However, it seemed that unlike Earth, Terra had different rules and nature, monsters did not seem to be born from the world itself through accumulated Mana alone and were instead originated from the inside of Dungeons, special places created by the Goddess of Chaos.

“Dungeons are special places… They are often resembling of old buildings, or temples, sometimes underground, sometimes in the middle of the forest, or sometimes inside caves on mountains, the Goddess of Chaos seems to create them as she pleases, and each one is packed with Monsters that keep being born inside. Of course, monsters do not simply bear out of nowhere, Goblins give birth, Demon Spiders are born in eggs, and so on.” Explained Gwendolyn.

“I see… (So it’s really not like in Earth in that regard, Monsters here seem more realistic than the ones spontaneously born in Earth… Well, perhaps not all monsters are like that in Earth either)” said Frank.

“However, Monsters are different from us as they can grow incredibly fast, often being ready to fight the moment they are born from their mother’s womb or their eggs… Due to their rapid metabolism, they reproduce incredibly fast, and might even escape the dungeon and invade whole nations if the dungeons are left unchecked and uncleaned of them” said Gwendolyn.

“Is there a way for us to fight against them? Did the Goddess of Chaos not thought about that?” asked Frank.

“She did, like all the Gods. We were already blessed by magic before the era of monsters and dungeons, the power to exert the elements of the world and to use them to our advantage. However, we all possess something that you seem to not be aware of, perhaps due to your low education…” said Gwendolyn.

“Something?” asked Frank.

“How can you not know about Mana Cores?” asked Annabelle, the little girl seemed to like to act like a know-it-all in front of Frank’s ignorance over the world of Terra.

“Mana Cores?” asked Frank.

“Well, most common folk like me never develop it so I don’t feel bad for it… though you possess Spatial Magic, don’t you? That means that your Magic Core was already activated, perhaps you were never told that such organ was the origin of your magic?” asked Cathyl.

“It is as Cathyl says. All of us are born with a Mana Core. A special organ positioned near our heart, a crystal that generates and gathers Mana for our use. At the age of five is where you would usually awaken it through a ceremony where you infused with Magic, but you seem to have never gone through such a thing, perhaps you unknowingly awakened it? Such cases are rare, but not impossible. It seems that you might be even more talented than we imagined,” said Gwendolyn.

“I see… Mana Cores is what gives everyone Magic then? The weapon for people to fight against monsters and also to make their lives a bit easier” said Frank.

“Exactly… Sigh, I guess I will discount you a bit of your pay over me having to teach you so much. Now bear with me as I explain in more detail what I know about Mana Cores…” muttered Gwendolyn.

“More of my pay…? Sigh, but it is precious knowledge, so go ahead” said Frank.

“Very well then. First of all, all living beings are born with Mana Cores, even non-monster beasts are capable of developing them, but such beasts often have them undeveloped as they are not monstrous nor possess strong mana. However, monsters usually have them always, and are precious materials that we can harvest when they die, aside from the body parts that can be used for a variety of purposes, one of them being alchemy and crafting.”

“I see, I see”

“Mana Cores are divided into many categories for each Attribute in the world of Terra, the Attributes are the elements of our world, the elements that maintain creation as… well, creation. They are Fire, Water, Sky, Earth, Chaos, Light, Life, Space, and Time… I possess a Mana Core of the Fire Attribute, which is often red-colored, I developed it through my training before becoming a soldier, and after retiring from it, I had already learned a few spells…” said Gwendolyn.

“So each person has a Mana Core of a certain Attribute?” asked Frank.

“Yeah, though I don’t know what Attribute I have because I never awakened it,” said Cathyl.

“I have Fire like mommy!” said Annabelle.

“However, Mana Cores aren’t simply awakened and that is all. You develop them through the infusion of your own Life Energy and Mana, the more you infuse into it, the more chances you’ll have to undergo a Core Evolution or Upgrade, where your Core will grow larger and will be able to harbor greater Mana, there are many stages of such cultivation of your Mana Core, which are simply divided into numbers as Ranks, with four stages in each rank” said Gwendolyn.

“Ranks? How many Ranks?” asked Frank.

“Boy, you really are clueless… There are ten known Ranks from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10! Each Rank has four stages that you need to undergo to finally break through the Rank, these are initial stage, middle stage, upper stage, and peak stage, you got it? I won’t repeat it” said Gwendolyn.

“I see… you didn’t have to count all the numbers of Ranks, miss Gwendolyn, I am NOT that clueless…” muttered Frank.

“Well, how could I had known?” muttered Gwendolyn.

After hearing Gwendolyn’s explanation, Frank could not help but associate such explanation with the web novels he had read in Earth, where their fantasy worlds set into worlds named as ‘cultivation worlds’, where people cultivated their bodies, souls, and sometimes something called as cores, just like in Terra.

However, such worlds were usually based in eastern fantasy, and Terra was clearly more western medieval in its setting, something not often used in the page he visited to read web novels in his free time.

However, Frank wondered if he even had such Core, as he came from Earth, where such things did not exist… By that logic, he did not need to cultivate a Mana Core but simply to level up himself and his skills.

“So, in a resume, due to your magic, you have the rare Space Attribute Mana Core. But it’s not like you can be stuck with it, I have heard that those in higher rankings of society are capable of buying Mana Cores and implanting them into their bodies to gain more attributes to use… though such Mana Cores are often taken away from other humans, as monster mana cores are incompatible with us… And also due to that fact, if you are not careful over showing off your magic without having grown strong, you might end up being captured by a bandit and having your mana core butchered out of your body and sold as a precious good, so you better keep your magic a secret as much as you can, I am the only one you can trust, and well, everyone here present” said Gwendolyn.

“Of course you would say that now… But if Cores can be implanted, perhaps I could acquire one to strengthen my magic… though the process of getting one into my body might seem quite painful if not done by a professional though… Ah, I need to ask her if monster tamers exist… Although I am more curious about the capabilities that someone can reach with each Rank, I should prioritize bringing Ruby here as fast as possible behind the pretext of her being a tamed pet that I… luckily found in the forest or something” thought Frank.

“By the way, are there people that tame monsters? They seem very strong, couldn’t they be used to fight at our side?” asked Frank.

“Indeed, they exist, they’re rare people who had developed special slavery spells that can make monsters obey them, they’re often limited to the attribute of their mana cores, meaning that people with Fire Mana Cores can only tame Fire Attribute Monsters, Life Attribute Mana Core users can tame Plant-type monsters, Earth Attribute Mana Cores can tame Golems or other cave-dwelling creatures, and so on. Do you want to tame a monster? You’ll have to ideate a spell for that first,” said Gwendolyn.

“I see… It might be nice if I could tame a monster…” muttered Frank.

“I’ve heard that it is easier to tame them when they’re just born from their eggs, but who would risk their lives to find a monster egg?” wondered Cathyl.

“One last question… what are the capabilities of those with higher Ranks in their Mana Cores?” asked Frank.

“A very good question! I thought you would not care about such a thing, but you’re indeed quite sharp, Frank… Indeed, the higher the Rank the strongest the Magic of the user becomes. And through Magic, everything is possible, even the strengthening of one physical ability. Usually, civilians are between Rank 1 to 2 at most, and because monsters share similar ranks to us, civilians with awakened Mana Cores should be capable of fighting things such as Goblins if they possess enough spells… but the acquisition of spells is a whole different ordeal.”

“However, the higher the ranking, the more you can exert powerful abilities through magic and spells, those at Rank 6 and above are considered superhumans amongst superhumans, and are talented Heroes that protect whole Nations… it is also said that those that reach Rank 7 and above are considered Gods… though I’ve never met one,” said Gwendolyn.

“So that is how it is… it’s just like in cultivation, they become similar to immortal cultivators, isn’t it? Damn, this is way too dangerous now, and these guys just walk around the world doing whatever they please too? Even more dangerous… I just want to be a farmer for god’s sake” thought Frank as he considered the new danger of such a dangerous world that seemed so tranquil.

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Author’s Note: If you like the story please give any powerstone you could spare, if we reach a nice number there will be bonus chapters at the end of the week, it all depends on you!

Thank you very much for reading!