Extra's Path To Demon King-Chapter 99: A bit different

He couldn’t take his eyes off that scarlet radiance? Just....how? Why? It was as if he had lost his goddamn mind, fuck, fuck, fuck? Is that what Sin meant by obsession? Indeed, he lost his mind in obsession to the point that even when he was being brutally beaten by Sin, his eyes never strayed away from the Scarlet radiance.

Only after there was a goddamn hole in his chest, did he come back to his senses, he really felt like he had died. It was too painful. By now, he understood the assignment. He would have to cross each uphill section and go closer and closer to that scarlet radiance by bypassing or defeating Sin. And to be able to do that, he naturally could not lose his mind in the process; he cannot look at that radiance ever again, never.

Even now, just picturing that scarlet radiance made his mind go blank. After cursing for countless times, he finally got up and cleaned up the balcony where he vomited blood all over the place, then took another shower. He was able to notice there was lingering pain and a sense of general weakness. It was extremely vague and could be dismissed easily.

Yet, it did not escape his senses; he furrowed his eyebrows, and he had lost a bit of his life force. Probably a few days, it was inconsequential. But not dismissible entirely. That’s right, this seems to be a consequence of failing to overcome the reflection or his Sin; it usually doesn’t happen that your life force gets dissolved with your defeat against your reflection.

But for the individuals who are very powerful and with potential, it seems to be applied likely by the world’s Will to balance things out, could it be because his soul is that of an outsider, is that the reason? No, likely not, from what he understood, the world Will did not treat him much differently than the rest. That could be the real reason why the world Will was harsher on Lucien than it ever was towards the Valkyrie.

So, the world Will basically treats outsiders better than those of its own. With a tired sigh, he stopped thinking about it and simply went to sleep.

The next day, he was sitting in the Rune class, listening to an explanation from the professor in charge of Runic studies. The professor, when he first entered, looked at him expectantly. He didn’t understand completely why. Well, there was a possibility the man knew of his runic eyes, but thankfully, no such topic was brought up. Perhaps he was thinking too much.

Professor Alfred continued his explanation, "I presume you all know somewhat the basics of Runecasting because everyone who gets the runecaster aspect has dabbled in it, in the trial."

"Still allow me to give a basic rundown on it, and let me tell you in advance that there are some differences in the Runecasting you have learned in your trial than what works here in the Eldarion continent, but the basic framework of it remains the same."

Axel leaned forward and listened attentively. The 5th princess was sitting right beside him, though he was conflicted about whether it was a good thing or not. For one, it was an utter pleasure to have such a fresh and fragrant beauty right beside him; on the other hand, it was a bit too distracting. He didn’t know a single batshit on how Runecasting worked within the Eldarion continent, because only Lumina had that aspect and even then its details weren’t flashed out that much in the original story.

Shaking his head, he got rid of all the unnecessary thoughts, focusing back on the teachings of the professor.

"As you already know, there are 4 pillars to Runecasting: Runic Language, Runic Energy, Runic Direction, and Runic Form."

"I won’t bore you with the details of what is what; there are already detailed books in the academy library on all four of the topics."

"Now our main topic of discussion is obviously the Runic language. The 4 levels of Runic language and the number of runes on each level are the same here as well."

[1] Basic Runes - 24

[2] Extended Runes - 12

[3] Advanced Runes - 6

[4] Absolute Runes - 3 frёeωebɳovel.com

The professor further explained, unlike what they learned in the trials, each of these rune symbols cannot be engraved on any material; any Runecaster is initially incapable of engraving a certain rune that could affect the material with its entire concept.

It’s like this, in the 24 basic runes, there is the rune of ’Ignis ’ = ’ Fire’.

The thing is, unlike in the trial world of the Prime Nexus, you can’t simply engrave that rune no matter what at the beginning.

Rather, you have to break it into three, then master each of the fractions one by one. In that sense, each of the 24 basic runes can be fragmented into 3. You can think of it in another way, which is breaking the fire concept, making it 3 much simpler sections of it, they would now seem like an ’Ability or skill’ instead of a ’Concept.’

In the Runic studies perspective, though, you don’t really master an ability yourself; rather, you give your weapon the ability that is all. So the information summed up like this in the end,

The 24 Basic runes each can be fragmented into 3.

The 12 Extended runes each can be fragmented into 2.

The 6 Advanced runes each can be fragmented into 1 extra.

The 3 Absolute runes each cannot be fragmented.

This system of classification seems pretty much the same as artifact classification. Thankfully, the professor did not continue the complicated explanation, he said more would be waiting the next day. But he was grateful that the professor wasn’t dumping all the info at once.

He was really having a headache, things were already too complicated in the runic studies. Why did it have to be more complicated now? He thought back to the question he had asked Professor Alfred, unable to contain himself.

"Why is this fragmentation of the runes necessary here? I mean, why was it necessary to go about it like this? And why wasn’t it necessary on the worlds of the trial?" Axel asked with a trace of annoyance.

Alfred chuckled, hearing that, and let out a mirthless laugh,

"Oh, my boy, trust me. How many times I have cursed the damn runic studies for this one deviation from the trials which makes the life of any Runecaster at least 10 times more difficult than it was supposed to."

"Considering how precise your way of putting the question was, I presume you already have a guess, Axel?" stated Alfred while pointing at him.

All 11 other Runecasters within the entire academy, who were spread around the classroom, looked at him with curiosity. He lingered for a bit, but eventually answered,

"The World will?"

The professor nodded with a visible sigh, "Yes, the damn world Will."

At this moment, Lumina chimed in, "Just what exactly is this world will, it seems to be getting brought up on many various topics when it comes to ascending through the Seeker’s path and getting stronger."

Alfred looked at her with a trace of surprise, "Hm, none of the others explained this crucial information? Tsk tsk, how disappointing."

Alfred answered after thinking for a while, stating, "The truth is we don’t truly know what it is in actuality, but we can surmise what it might be or on what principle it operates."

"The world Will is basically the natural and highest form of energy of the continent, which forms together, creating an incomplete form of self-awareness in it."

"As far as we have seen, the world Will doesn’t exactly like its inhabitants growing stronger. For some unknown reason. But like I said, its awareness is quite incomplete. And it in itself is bound by certain rules of fairness."

"It cannot entirely stop us from getting stronger. And no, many of you might think Prime Nexus is the world Will or its application, but no."

"In fact, Prime Nexus is the entity that goes against the world’s will and helps us grow stronger, something which is disliked by the Will."

With each revelation that the professor dropped, the more the students became shocked. A visible frown appeared on Axel’s face on the other hand. Why didn’t he know about any of this? Well, yes, he did know that Prime Nexus was a foreign entity within this world. It was Alien, so in a way, it would make sense that the defensive mechanism of this world or continent, which is its Will, should dislike it.

After the class had ended, Axel went towards the academy shop. He had to buy the materials to start his engravings, as well as books related to comprehensive knowledge about Runecasting. How the fragmentation of the Runic symbols worked.

The currency here was mana crystals. The 5th princess accompanied him with nothing to do, he also couldn’t be so rude to just shoo her away. Well, he didn’t have enough money anyway for now, so he was simply going there to look.

Converting normal currencies into credits or mana crystals transferable to students within the academy is too disgustingly expensive, as it is discouraged. So, only the top powers of each of the great kingdoms and royal families could help their children with some initial funds, but there was a limit on how much could be provided through that type of exchange. On the other hand, students are encouraged to get credits or mana crystals through their own effort.