Audric took a brief moment to register his uncle's words, and then focused on the new senses he had acquired. Although he hadn't taken off the blindfold yet, he could still see the entire room clearly, including the five people who he had come to be familiar with and would call his family.
Uncle Taz was the second tallest of the adults in the room, with a broad build and kind, deep blue eyes. His hair was brown and cut short. He wore the rough blacksmith's apron that Audric suspected he rarely took off, as well as his toolbelt that Audric had imagined contained every useful tool in the known universe, from a miniaturized hammer to a bottle opener.
His Aunt Gina was standing right next to him. She had chestnut hair that came down to her shoulders, and eyes that looked as green as a forest. She stared at him lovingly, and Audric could tell that she held a great deal of care for him just from her expression alone. She was smiling slightly and had a hint of… pride in her expression, as well as excitement.
Agatha was the next. She had light blonde hair and icy blue eyes that didn't reflect the kindness behind her gaze. She was quite short compared to Aunt Gina, and also appeared to have elongated ears, which drew his curiosity. When she noticed him staring, a blush imperceptible to all in the room besides him adorned her face.
"These two are both wood elves, so you can't really see their elf traits, but I'm a high elf, and that makes my racial characteristics… unusually pronounced…" she trailed off at the end.
He continued looking around the room until he spotted Jasper. He was, by far, the shortest of the bunch, as well as lanky. His hair was frazzled and burnt on some parts, as if he had been in an explosion. However, an earsplitting grin adorned his face, and the only thing that Audric could register from his expression was: overflowing excitement.
The last one in the room (other than himself) was Cyrus. He was also the strangest. He was easily a full foot taller than Uncle Taz but didn't look disproportionate in any way… almost as if he had been designed instead of born. His hair was fully white and held back in a high ponytail. Compared to the other four, he seemed to lack any intent behind his gaze, but it didn't seem like he was trying to conceal himself either.
"I will save my own explanation for another time. For now, it is best we make our way to the Realm that Jasper has found before nightfall. The outside of the city can be dangerous at night, and the beasts aren't the only predators to be found."
Audric knew what Cyrus was hinting at. If they weren't either within the city or at their destination by the time night fell, there was a high likelihood of getting ambushed by bandits or slavers.
The group quickly left the small home and headed towards the city gate. Now that Audric could see, he had a much greater understanding of the world around him. Even though he had seen things for the first time, he instinctually knew what they were. He assumed that this was one of the innate abilities of his eyes.
Fent was very... drab. Everything was a dark shade of gray, mixed with the occasional brown, black, or lighter shades of gray. There were large skyscrapers that soared into the sky, only to crumble away at the top, leaving nothing but a hollow shell. There were no plants, no trees, and only a sparse population of people.
In short, nothing lived here other than intelligent races. There was no wildlife left on Unkeon-4.
As the group reached the gate, Audric saw Uncle Taz pull the guard aside and hand him something. The guard looked around suspiciously and then nodded. The gate began opening shortly after that.
This was interesting at first to Audric, who had heard of bribes before but never seen them. However, after thinking on the matter a bit, he realized that most people didn't have the extremely sharp eyes that he did, and that most of these things would likely go unnoticed. Especially within Fent, even if someone were to see the bribe, they likely wouldn't care.
As they exited the gate, Audric was stunned at the sight of the badlands of Unkeon-4. He had never thought that Cyrus was being literal when he said that the Blade Formations fractured the planets. The landscape was planar, with no vegetation in sight. Various floating islands dotted the horizon, many being tied together with mechanical bridges that functioned off of ambient Mana, but as they got further and further away from Fent, the bridges became heaps of scrap metal that were ruggedly fashioned together.
Another thing that stood out to Audric was the large amounts of quicksilt that infested the landscape. When the corporations that had mined out the planet had left, there were many gaps that remained unfilled under the planet's crust. The silt would slowly trickle down into these pockets to fill available space, and they would take anyone unlucky enough to step in it down into the earth.
Audric had to stop Jasper from stepping into pockets of quicksilt multiple times: the man was obsessed with what he assumed was research notes, and hadn't stopped looking at them since they had left the house. He was also mumbling strange words and scribbling furiously in a journal he had brought along.
'I wonder what he's working on...' thought Audric. As if he could hear Audric's thoughts, Jasper turned around and smiled.
"The things in this notebook are interesting. Come take a look."
Audric walked over to the man with an inquisitive gaze.
"These notes were compiled by Miss Agatha before we left, and they detail the intricacies of your mutated core." This was the third or fourth time Audric had heard mention of a mutated core in regards to himself. To say he was lost was a bit of an understatement.
Jasper took a brief moment to reserve himself, then adopted a teacher-like persona not unlike Cyrus'.
"The core is where cultivated mana is stored in the body. Most people have a singular core with an innate elemental disposition, called an affinity. In short, one core, one affinity. You, on the other hand, can have a limitless number of cores, and consequentially, a limitless number of affinities. The drawback, however, is that you will need to find a matching treasure of the corresponding element you want to cultivate."
Audric had heard of treasures before. His Uncle Taz often spoke of them when referencing his greatest forging works, and he had occasionally heard of them being used in medicine from Miss Agatha. They were naturally formed objects, like plants or minerals, that could attract ambient mana to themselves just like people could. In other words, they could cultivate.
The main difference in the treasures' cultivation was that they did it on instinct, rather than through focused, conscious effort. This made them mature more slowly compared to humanoid cultivators.
"Although finding sufficiently high grade treasures on this backwater planet would ordinarily be difficult, I have been working with Cyrus to devise a way for you to be able to cultivate before we are able to leave. I will, however, be leaving that as a surprise. On the other hand, your unique pair of eyes should help you identify any high grade treasure you come across, so keep your eyes open."
As he finished his explanation, the group approached a particularly deep hole in the ground.
"The Realm is deeper down. Let's go." Said Cyrus.
Audric wondered how they were going to get down, as he saw no ladders or stairs to enter the pit. He turned to ask how they would be getting down, only to notice that half of the group was no longer there.
"Let me show you a high-control application of mana, kid." Said Uncle Taz.
He grabbed him under the arms and stepped off the cliff. Before Audric had time to be afraid, he noticed that his Uncle was performing a strange footwork that would allow him to step on the air and generate momentum. They soon landed safely on the ground at the bottom of the hole.
"That is called air-stepping. It's fairly advanced, but with your talent you could probably learn it before you hit First Rotation."
Finally, a term Audric was familiar with! First Rotation referred to the mana cultivation stages. There were nine rotations within each stage, starting from one and ending at nine. The first overall stage, Apprentice, likewise had a full nine rotations. Stages are further subdivided based on cultivation path. Those that use their core as the driving force behind their mana are called mages, so a first stage first rotation mage would be called a First Rotation Apprentice Mage. A bit of a mouthful, that.
There were also those who use their bodies as the driving force for their mana, and they were called warriors. Under the same circumstances as above, they would be called First Rotation Apprentice Warriors.
There were other kinds of cultivators out there, but Audric wasn't very familiar with them. He knew of the existence of Alchemists, Beast Tamers, Soul Practitioners, and Exorcists, but he had no idea how their forms of cultivation worked. Mage and Warrior were, by far, the two most common types.
For now, however, Audric would be stuck as a Seedling, someone with potential that had yet to blossom. At least, until he awakened his mana core.
"The entrance to the Realm is just up ahead," Jasper began.
"I need Cyrus to hold the Realm open until all of us are inside. Audric, stay close to us in case there are strong monsters inside. I have no clue what could be on the other side of the portal. Once we're through, Cyrus will shut the portal behind us and we will begin unsealing your physique."
With that said, Audric could feel an invisible aura in the air, getting heavier and heavier with each passing moment. As he turned to look at Cyrus, he noticed that the man was now surrounded with a dense, blue glow.
"Young Audric, the speed at which you improve is astonishing even to me. From what I know, your father only unlocked the ability to see mana when he was twelve. You unlocked it in the span of a few hours."
Audric took a closer look at the blue glow. It seemed to shift slightly, not like water, but like grains of sand in a desert storm. The began to form a circular, runic pattern on the floor in front of them.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. The runes became as bright as stars, and a wide portal opened on the floor.
"It is stable. Audric, go in first. We will follow. This will be a good experience for you." Cyrus said.
And with those words, Audric took a single step into the portal and vanished.