Chapter 3: Elven Magic

Jack stood in the aisle between some bookshelves with a book in his hands. He stared intently at the words of text written on the book, stroking the text with his fingers.

He read for a few minutes before returning the book to an empty spot on one of the bookshelves and began to contemplate.

[Based on what is written in these books, the magic system of the elves is centered around Mana and something known as an Edict Rune.] Jack clasped his hands behind him, [Mana is simple to understand, it's like the energy used to cast spells in video games. The only difference is that all elements have their unique type of Mana.

[Edict Runes on the other hand are a bit complicated… According to the book, they are meant to be magical symbols in one's soul that give them the power to cast magic or Elemental Weaves as they call it.] Jack slowly walked down the aisle while still in thought.

[Apparently, what I did earlier in the room wasn't considered an elemental weave. I had just materialized my void mana since I didn't make use of my edict rune. Interesting… ] Jack reached the opposite end of the library, situated there was a simple wooden desk and chair.

Jack casually took a seat and continued his reflection, [Should I try creating an elemental weave?] He thought deeply on the matter for a minute before deciding to give it a try.

Jack got into a more comfortable position on the chair, he closed his eyes as his consciousness seeped deep into his soul. There, in the completely dark and empty realm of his soul, Jack noticed a particular purple-black symbol silently floating in place.

Its appearance was that of a crudely drawn circle with some inscriptions engraved on it.

[Is this it?] Jack thought as he inspected the purple-black circle. From what he could observe, it wasn't that special.

He tried interacting with it and the symbol released a radiance that enveloped his consciousness. As the light invaded his consciousness, and his thoughts turned stiff, a wave of information flooded Jack's mind.

Jack's mind went blank as he instinctively absorbed the information, and after five minutes of remaining stationary, Jack abruptly opened his eyes and almost fell off his chair.

[Now that was intense…] Jack took in deep breaths trying to calm his nerves. After he eventually calmed, Jack browsed through the information he had received.

[…I see, that's how you do it.] Jack stood up and grabbed a book from one of the bookshelves, he willed and the void mana in the surroundings flowed into his edict rune causing it to release a faint radiance. Immediately after that, the book in Jack's hands vanished.

[Incredible! So this is Absence, the elemental property of the void!]

Jack intently stared at his hands with a grin plastered on his face.

[Although it has disappeared, I can feel a faint connection to it, or rather, the elemental weave that makes it invisible.] Jack stopped supplying Mana to the elemental weave which caused the book to reappear.

Jack returned to his seat and fell into deep thought, [according to the book, and from the information I just received, I will have to explore the meaning of my elemental properties to upgrade my edict rune… My first stage property is absence…]

Jack pondered for a few minutes before ultimately giving up, [No rush, I'll practice my elemental weaves for now as that can also help upgrade my edict rune.]

And so, Jack spent the next two hours turning various things in the library invisible. He eventually collapsed, feeling exhausted after that venture, "I guess this is my limit…"

Jack rested for 30 minutes before getting up to his feet, [Mana overuse exhausts me both mentally and physically… I have to be careful, especially during a fight.]

He headed to another room and took a quick bath before returning to the bedroom and falling asleep.

***

After a relaxing sleep, Jack awakes after about a day of sleeping. He stretched for a bit and headed to the bath to wash up. After he was done, he exited the hideout through a different entrance than the one he used to enter.

This entrance was connected to a small cabin located on the outskirts of Jangur – a city governed by the Church of Eternal Darkness.

[It shouldn't be too far ahead.] Jack donned a dark hooded assassin outfit with a white featureless mask that further obscured his appearance.

He ran through the uninhabited lands for fifteen minutes before stopping a few meters away from a settlement. The settlement was secured by sturdy stone walls, and at the northern wall were large metal gates.

Standing guard by the gates were two bulky brown-haired elves wearing armor that looked to be a mix between leather armor, and fur coats. These brown-haired elves were earth elves.

"Halt! State your purpose!" As Jack got closer, one of the guards with a large battle axe strapped to his back called out to him, releasing a misty breath in the process.

"I'm here for the market," Jack responded while putting his arms in the air to show he wasn't a threat.

"Entry fee is two poor-quality dark mana gems, if you stay more than a day then you'll be charged an extra one." The guard from earlier spoke once more, a bit relieved.

Jack reached into the pouch he had tied to his belt and took out two dark gemstones from it. The rough-looking gemstones released chilling dark auras from the dark mana stored inside of them.

"Here," he handed the dark mana gems to the guards and was allowed passage into the settlement.

The settlement was fairly large. It contained many wooden and brick buildings arranged in a disorderly fashion. Due to this, there were no real roads in the settlement.

Most of these buildings had signs on them stating their purpose. The majority of them were inns & bars, while the rest were small mercenary guildhalls.

The compact streets were filled with mercenaries, wandering traders, and normal civilians, who were either heading to the settlement's facilities or heading to the market on the far right.

The market was the most popular part of the settlement. It was formed due to the large number of mercenaries here and it sold things like weapons, goods, and even information. As long as one has enough Mana gems, they can purchase anything they desire.

[The mercenary city is quite the spectacle.] Jack silently lamented as he walked through the bustling, brightly lit streets heading to the market.

Because the sky of the Ever-night continent was always dark, places where other elven races frequented required light sources in them.

Jack soon reaches the market square. He immediately noticed that compared to the residential areas, the market looked a lot more organized.

The building and stalls were all organized in a way that made shopping extremely easy, to the left were the weapons shops, and to the right were the miscellaneous goods. This was shown by the signs posted on the buildings.

The market wasn't crowded, most mercenaries were busy with various missions, and the majority of other elven races were not as resilient to the cold as dark elves. This caused the market to be rather quiet, but it still didn't damper its liveliness.

Jack navigated his way through the paved streets, clenching his sack of mana gems tightly and heading deeper into the market.

The deeper he got, the fewer the stores in sight. He eventually stopped at a secluded store on the right side of the market.

There was almost no one around, only a few beggars sitting by the city walls, and some other elves shopping at the limited stores in this area.

Jack walks into the old-looking store and heads to the counter. The store barely sold anything, the few shelves in it had a bunch of random items placed on them.

"I would like to know the current state of things," Jack spoke to the clerk while showing an insignia to the latter.

The clerk was an old elven male with a hunched back, jet-black hair, emerald eyes, and fair skin. He was a dark elf.

His face brightened as he gazed at the insignia in Jack's hands.

"Give me a second." The old clerk responded in a raspy voice.