Chapter 25
Rune Mastery and Seal Mastery are two disciplines greatly sought after in every Hidden City and Empire.
Rune Mastery involves learning an ancient text where writing the correct symbol can produce almost anything.
However, because people's understanding of this ancient language is limited, what we can achieve is also limited.
For example, a Rune Master can create runes to hide the presence of someone or something, or runes that produce flames when activated.
However, such elemental runes are very powerful, and as I said, the general lack of understanding prevents greater feats.
The Rune Masters were the ones who created the barrier surrounding the 300-kilometer-wide Hidden City of Sky.
Their mastery is also what stopped the Tier 9 Mana Beast from unleashing its full power, though some of them died in the process due to the immense mana consumption.
Currently, runes are primarily used for support, as no one has improved their knowledge enough to push beyond that.
They can increase someone's cultivation speed, enhance their mana recovery, or conceal anything if the runes are powerful enough.
They are also used in daily life to warm, cool, or chill a room.
Sensing Runes can be placed to detect anything entering a 100-meter range and relay that information to the rune's creator.
Runes can also be placed on weapons, making them extremely powerful.
Then there are Seals.
They are equally as powerful as runes, given our current understanding of both.
Runes have the theoretical ability to bend reality itself, making them immensely powerful, but no one has ever witnessed this.
That level of power is considered legendary, something even the original story never truly explored.
Seals are, in their own way, quite impressive.
For instance, they were used to seal the Tier 9 Mana Beast—a creature made purely of mana, virtually immortal, and possessing enough power to destroy a significant part of the empire if it decided to self-destruct.
However, destroying the entire empire was impossible, despite what the author of the novel claimed.
You have to understand that the Hidden City's territory alone covers the entire eastern region of the empire, which is vast in itself.
I can move at around 40 meters per second at my peak speed, yet it took Austin and me two months to leave the empire and enter another, without resting.
If we had rested often, delivering Mara by the deadline would have been impossible.
It only took two months because the kingdom we passed through to reach the Zenith Empire was close.
The Sky Empire covers around 30 million km², making it the largest and richest in resources.
The Hidden Sky City's territory covers about 5 million km², with the city itself being roughly 300 km in size, the largest on the continent.
Our current mission is in the Sky Empire, posted by a noble with a massive reward: around 30 million Auron upon completion.
Plus, if the targets have bounties, that will help cover some of my expenses.
From what I understand, Seals can create a separate space.
This is possible because Logan, before his death, created such a technique.
It was taken by the Masked Man, who used it to create a sealed space inside himself, becoming nearly unkillable.
You can also seal an existing space, preventing anyone without the Space element from entering or leaving.
You can seal someone's mana flow, preventing them from casting spells; seal their mana core, halting their cultivation; or even seal someone's mind, which is immensely powerful as it severs the connection between the body and mind, resulting in death.
I have mastered a single seal and rune.
It wasn't easy; it felt like programming all over again, especially when writing runes.
The resources needed to practice rune drawing were expensive.
For seals, the cost wasn't as high, but it required immense mana control—something I possess above all others.
As the sun rose, Blake opened his eyes at the same moment I looked at the fire, like a system rebooting.
"Why were you acting like you were sleeping?" I asked.
Blake looked at me and said, "I was sleeping, and yet I wasn't. It's a technique where your body rests, but you remain awake to sense, feel, and hear everything around you."
"That's impressive. Can you teach me?" I was genuinely interested.
I barely sleep these days, as it's becoming increasingly impossible when I don't know if someone might try to kill me.
I have no enemies, and I'm sure the Great Sage in his other dimension didn't see my appearance, only my soul.
I just need to be careful, mostly because of that bastard Ray.
If he sees you as powerful or having potential, he'll either force you to join his Division 9 or kill you.
That's essentially what happened to Austin.
Ray appeared before him and asked him to join Division 9.
Ray was planning to attack Austin when his guard was down, and he managed it by promising to resolve the conflict between Austin's clan and the Sky King's people.
But in the end, Ray was the sole cause of everything that followed.
When Austin let his guard down, Division 9 attacked, and Ray managed to take one of his eyes.
Austin, unwilling to let his power fall into Ray's hands, destroyed his other eye, prompting Ray to kill him in a rage.
Killing Austin, the number one genius of the Clover Clan, pushed the clan toward civil war, which forced Blake to act.
He killed his own father to prevent the Sky King from using extreme measures to destroy the clan.
The Royal Court still possessed weapons and ancient artifacts that gave them a significant power advantage.
Later in the story, Blake's younger brother would kill every member of the clan in revenge for making his brother kill their father.
This was the end of the Clover Clan. His brother would then kill Blake, who was already dying after a fight with the Abyssal Moon leader.
Eventually, the younger brother would learn the whole truth and seek to destroy both the Hidden Sky City and the leader of the Abyssal Moon.
He would be stopped by the protagonist, after killing Ray but the people who would ultimately change his side were the girl he loved and his younger sister.
Oh, right, I forgot to mention that Blake has two siblings.
He changes sides and fights the Abyssal Moon organization alongside the protagonist and the Five Great Hidden Cities.
They initially fail, giving the Great Sage an opportunity to lend them his power, allowing him to lessen the universe's laws around him and find a way to escape.
This time, however, they will win, and all the Great Hidden Cities and nations will unite into a single nation.
The ending was great, but the next book, about the protagonist's son, is what bothers me.
The Great Sage's power was clearly shown, along with his countless years of planning.