He knelt down, drawing a rough diagram in the dirt to help Lunia visualize. "Think of it as a sphere, made up of four layers, each stacked on top of the other. The first and deepest part is the core, and the other layers surround it like shells."


    He pointed to the innermost circle. "The core is the foundation. Its job is simple—it stores mana in its pure form."


    Next, he traced the second layer. "This is the Attracter. It pulls mana from the surrounding environment into your body."


    Moving outward, he tapped the third layer. "The Refiner. The mana you absorb from the outside world is too thin. The Refiner compresses it, making it more usable.


    The level of your Refiner determines the purity of your mana. For example, if you''re an Ascendant, your mana will be at Level 2 purity or you can also call it ascendant mana "


    "What does that mean exactly?" Lunia asked again.


    This time, Nero was the one to explain. "When you ascend, your Eny doesn’t grow bigger, but the mana inside it becomes about ten times more compressed. That way, your Eny can hold much more mana without increasing in size."


    "Ooh!" Lunia''s eyes lit up with understanding.


    Nero then turned back to Nemsus.


    Finally, he gestured to the outermost layer. "And this is the Definer. It holds your runes.


    Lunia’s eyes followed his every movement, her face scrunched in concentration. She was trying to absorb it all, trying to understand.


    "This is the foundation of everything," Nemsus said. "You need to know this before we move on."


    "I know about the runes" she said


    "Still better hear it again" he continued


    The Runes allow you to control their respective elements, but more than that, they also convert mana—switching between normal, or let''s call it unelemental mana for now, and elemental mana.


    That means if you have a Fire Rune, you can absorb fire mana from the air, convert it into unelemental mana, and store it in your Core for later use. Remember, your Core can only store unelemental mana."


    He gave her a moment to process. "Makes sense?"


    She nodded again.


    Nemsus continued. "Next, you need to understand the runes. There are 17 in total—8 Low Runes, 8 High Runes, and the Will Rune."


    "The Will Rune is unique. It’s you—your thoughts, your personality. But more importantly, it’s the one responsible for controlling mana. Unlike the others, it isn’t in your Eny—it’s in your brain. That’s why it''s the key to refining your control and advancing in power. Its level ranges from 1 to 6, and the stronger it is, the more precise and powerful your mana manipulation becomes."


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    "Then, there are the Low Runes: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Ice, Wood, Sound, and Lightning. These are the fundamental elements, and like the Will Rune, they also range from Level 1 to 6."


    "But the High Runes—Time, Gravity, Space, Light, Shadow, Darkness, Life, and Death—are different. They don’t exist below Level 3. That means only lucky and tallented people can wield them, and mastering them is much harder than the Low Runes."


    He paused, making sure she was keeping up. "Got it?"


    "So, if someone is born with a High Rune, does that mean the rune starts directly at Level 3?"


    "Exactly." Nemsus nodded.


    But lunia wasn’t done. "What about the Will Rune? What if I don’t have one?"


    Nero and Nemsus burst into laughter.


    "Don''t worry," Nero said, still grinning. "Everyone has a Will Rune—even normal humans, animals, and beasts. Everyone."


    She nodded again, but this time, there was hesitation in her eyes.


    "Look, lunia," Nemsus said, his tone gentler now. "I know this is a lot to take in all at once, but you have to. Considering the situation we''re in, you don’t exactly have a choice."


    The little girl bit her lip, her hands trembling slightly. She wanted to cry, to say it was too much—but she had no other choice. All she could do was push forward and do her best.


    "Okay," Nemsus said. "The spells."


    He met Hilda''s eyes, making sure she was still following.


    "Spells are the main tools we use to fight—whether it''s for attack, defense, movement, or something else. They''re magical constructs formed from Vey Runes and Runic Language, and they’re fueled by mana."


    He paused for a moment before continuing.


    "Like everything else, spells are ranked. There are six levels, and the highest rune used in a spell determines its level. The stronger the rune, the more powerful the spell."


    He exhaled, watching her carefully.


    "The Runic Language is simply a set of words that can interact with mana, shaping and directing it. Vey Runes, on the other hand, are copies of the real runes. They don’t exist in your Eny but in your brain, formed through sheer willpower."


    He gave her a moment to process before adding, "Without Vey Runes, you can''t cast spells. They''re the bridge between your runes and the mana around you."


    "I''ll give you an example—take Nero''s Fireball spell," he began. "It''s one of the simplest spells you can use."


    He knelt down and used his hand to draw a rough circle on the ground. "The spell itself is in the form of a circle, like this."


    In the center, he marked a rune. "Here, see this Fire Rune?


    That''s actually a Vey Rune since you can''t take your real rune out of your chest. That''s why we use Vey Runes—they''re copies.


    Because they only consume willpower, they are immediately replaced by another copy. This determines the spell''s element."


    Then, he started adding strange, curved symbols around the inside of the circle, following its curvature. "These symbols are form the Vivanic luanguige, the runic language we mostly use for low-level spells in this empire."


    He gestured to different parts of the diagram as he continued. "This controls the spell’s shape—a sphere, in this case. This part determines how much mana will be used. This section controls the spell’s direction, and this one affects its purity. This here keeps it from exploding on release, and this helps with aiming..."


    He kept pointing at various sections, listing their functions one by one. Lunia didn’t really understand much, but she kept listening, her eyes following his hand as he traced each symbol. Even if the details were beyond her, she could tell the importance of such knowledge.


    "And this is how you form a fire ball"


    "One last thing to know is about Vey Runes," he continued. "The moment you acquire a rune in your Eny, a copy of it—a Vey Rune—appears in your brain.


    "So, you consume willpower when you cast a spells?" Lunia asked.


    "Of course," he nodded. "The same applies to Will Battles or controlling any kind of mana."


    "Oh..!! Okay"