Chapter 2 - Chapter 2 - World

After eating breakfast Clay asked his mom about books or library that he can use to study, Fortunately they have a library on the top of the tower on the left side of their mansion so clay immediately goes to the tower to learn the mysteries of this foreign world.

Clay enters the tower with a long spiral staircase leading to the very top floor. He climbed up the stairs until he ran out of breath, but he eventually reached the library.

'Damn, why do they have to make the library on top of a tower, if they can just build a simple room.'

The library has two sections separated by the tall windows on the wall, the first section contains books and the other one contains scrolls. Clay immediately goes to the books section and searched for history and geography of this new world to get answers to his questions.

Clay browsed in the library until he found a very old book titled [Legend of the Primordial Tree].

The book tells about a god of two chaotic worlds. The god wants to connect the higher plane and the lower plane to achieve fairness and balance in heaven and earth, but he didn't know how to link the two planes together.

Eventually, the god found a way to connect the two worlds. That is to use his body as a catalyst to link the two worlds by fusing himself on both worlds, guiding the chaotic energies to circulate and harmonize, gaining balance on both higher and lower plane. That god is in fact the Primordial Tree itself.

'Apparently, this world is called 'Underworld', People call it Underworld because the legend states that there's another world on top of the Primordial Tree. The Primordial Tree is a gigantic tree that existed from the beginning of time.'

"This world is really interesting"

The Primordial Tree guide the souls of the dead from the higher plane to flow in its branches breaking it down into energy called soul essence. The soul essence accumulates on its stems causing it to bear fruit which are called Primordial fruits.

The fruit contains a huge amount of soul essence. The fruit processes the soul essence and transforming it into another form of energy called spiritual essence. When the fruit is ripe, it quickly withers to release the spiritual essence in the environment nourishing both the world and its inhabitants. The spiritual essence lingers in the environment nourishing the ecosystem, it also gathers on pregnant inhabitants developing a soul for their embryo and giving life to the world.

'What an interesting process of life'

"I wonder what will happen if you eat the Primordial fruit?"

There's no known energy process on the higher plane because there's no inhabitant of the lower plane that managed to climb the Primordial Tree and reach the surface of the higher plane, they can't even reach the fruits. But there's some theories about the higher plane which seemed plausible.

One of the theories states that its the same process but there's no tree on the surface. The fruits grows deep underground doing the same process of nourishing but more slowly, because of how deep the fruits are underground. That process results on scarcity of spiritual essence in the surface.

'Does that mean the higher plain is earth?' Clay thought to himself about his hypothesis being possible.

'then why did I not get processed?' Clay thought while searching for other books to hopefully find answers, but he couldn't. There's no books that talks about malfunction of energy processing of the Primordial Tree.

Clay leaves that question for now and continued to search until he found a book titled [The Five Great continents].

The book states that underworld is a vast world spanning millions of miles on all directions around the Primordial Tree. The Primordial Tree is the center of the world which held both worlds together.

There a five continents around the Primordial Tree which is inhabited by the five races.

The Cerdinal continent which is named after the royal family who owned the largest city named Cerdinal and is located in the south of the Primordial Tree. That's where Clay lives.

The Alfheim continent which is full of lush forest and rich vegetations, it is inhabited by the Elven race which is located in the west of the Primordial Tree.

The Darcove continent which is full of mountains and large cave systems that is full of valuable minerals, it is inhabited by the the Dwarves which is a variant of human race but with short height and greater dexterity. This continent is located on the north of the Primordial Tree.

The Atlas continent which is full of prosperous sea and islands that is inhabited by the merman race which is also a variant of human race but with extraordinary beauty and a body suitable for watery environment. This continent is located on the east of the Primordial Tree

The last is the Prime continent which is where the Primordial Tree is. This continent is the largest and also the most dangerous part of the underworld. It is inhabited by various kind of magical and demonic beast. It is also the most mysterious place in the world because no inhabitants managed to explore its entirety.

"Whoa!, I wonder what lurks inside that place".

Underworld uses a unique type of currency called soul stones, soul stones are produced by the primordial sprouts. Primordial sprout is a special type of tree because it is linked on the roots of the Primordial Tree that is scattered around the world.

The residual soul essence inside the Primordial Tree goes down to it's roots causing the primordial sprouts to grow. The sprout produces a fruit called Primordial grape which is refined and processed into soul stones.

Soul stone contains a good amount of spiritual essence which is a good supplement in cultivation. It can also be used to power defensive mechanisms and formations.

'So it's like a power source, but also can be used for nourishment.'

'That's incredibly useful'

Clay continued his searching and reading until his mother called him for dinner. Clay goes downstairs and move on to the mansion. After reaching the dining hall, he saw his father sitting on a chair in front of him while wearing a broad smile.

"Um.... what's up with the smile?" Clay asked his father curiously.

"It's nothing, I'm just happy I can finally teach you our family's Inscription method" his father said while wearing a grin, he seems pretty happy.

Then clay suddenly remembered, his father is a famous inscription master in Southgard. He is famous for his unique inscription technique that uses runes instead of diagrams.

"Is it really that amazing?" Clay asked while stuffing his mouth with some meat.

"Of course! With your father's inscription technique, he can make amazing inscribed items with complex inscriptions and multiple functions which made other inscription master in awe" his mother answered while wearing a proud smile.

"You should follow me in my workshop after dinner so that I can start teaching you the basics" Glade said, he is still smiling, he's seems really excited.

"Okay, okay" Clay said while sipping his juice.