"Master. I never learned what the importance of my mana quality is, the books in your library didn't include a supreme grade. What does it mean to have a supreme grade mana?"
Kyrian had seen the outdated records from 800 years ago and he had only read the classification of mana qualities as Low, Ordinary, High, Profound, Earth, and Heaven. There wasn't any supreme grade.
'It seems like master just collected books once and then never bothered to read them nor update the library. Well, I couldn't blame a person who impersonates a whole battalion of butlers, maids, a wife and daughter, and the whole population of the Zemof estate on his own.'
'If I were to guess, he probably has an innate talent that can split his mind, or maybe he developed his own mind using magic to have that kind of ability. I couldn't imagine the toll on his brain, dividing it into hundreds of pieces.'
"What's with that look? My fists are itching just by looking at your face. You must be thinking badly of me huh?"
'This old man in his sharp senses…'
"No, master. I'm just curious why you never updated your library for the past eight hundred years?"
"Okay, one question at a time. To have a greater understanding on mana quality, you need the context of ambient mana.
"Firstly, the cultivation pathway of mages is mostly absorbing mana in the surroundings to strengthen and solidify a core. This core purifies the ambient mana that is usually putrid and impure due to many factors. Although there are some environments where the ambient mana is purer than the mana core of a mage, most of them are extinct and destroyed from wars or held privately by strong individuals.
Kyrian was reminded of the Saint's peak, one of the cultivation grounds that are sometimes opened to the public. It was recounted to him by 'Aloisia' during their mealtime back then. He felt weird knowing that it was really his master controlling that puppet who was talking to him.
The boy asked to confirm, "Is the Zemof family's Saint's peak one of those sites?"
"Yes, exactly. That place has a Heaven grade ambient mana, but the absorption must be regulated so that it lasts. That's why it's barred from the public every so often. Of course, as the owners and guardians of that place, we can go anytime, but we must still limit our staying duration to preserve the Saint's peak."
"Going back to mana quality, the mana that you absorb have different qualities and once you absorb them, it gets turned into the quality of your own or also known as innate mana."
"For example, if the ambient mana where you're cultivating has a Low-quality mana, then as a mage with Supreme quality, you would have a harder time strengthening your mana core. The opposite is true, if the ambient mana is of Supreme quality, then the mana core's cultivation will be faster beyond imaginable proportions if they have a lower grade mana quality."
"Although that would be a waste of Supreme quality mana. The right way to do is to purify the mana core using the Supreme mana quality. Although the process would be much slower, a mage's magic output would be much more effective, efficient, and destructive."
"Some hidden techniques in ancient clans and Elden houses have ways to purify or refine one's mana core to a certain level, but I've never heard of a mana core refining technique elevating one's quality to Supreme grade."
"So, to answer your question, having a Supreme grade mana means that whatever magic you cast will be stronger, and in higher levels in the ranking, any places you stay in for long periods of time will purify the ambient mana in your surroundings and elevate it. In some cases, you will attract people and want to befriend you because of your high mana quality. They wouldn't even know that the reason they are attracted to you is your mana quality."
Kyrian cupped his face with his hands and replied, "Doesn't that imply that I will have a harder time cultivating since the ambient mana of the Zemof estate is around Earth quality? Also, will that mean many people will swarm me as soon as I go out?"
A nerve struck in Horace's temples and said, "You should be proud that a place as huge as the Zemof estate has an Earth quality! Go outside and you'll see how barren the world is. If my ancestors didn't keep their bodies here for, I don't know how long, then we'd have the same bad quality mana around here. As for people swarming you, even without your mana quality, your face will make girls insane."
Kyrian shuddered at the thought of people sticking to him.
Horace let his disciples' musings go and attributed it to his disciple's ignorance and continued, "That's why researchers in Arcana theorizes that wherever there are unusually high levels of mana quality, there are corpses of a mages or creatures of high rank that has high mana quality."
"But there is no conclusive evidence of proving that yet, even with all the magic and technology in place. Some presidents in the past tried to purposefully gather corpses of powerful mages to make their own holy grounds, but they were immediately impeached and…" Horace motioned a slicing gesture on his neck and, said "by the senators and Elden houses."
"In the culture of Thiodan, the land of the beasts, the deceased tribal members are gathered in one holy place."
"The Republic is a bit different from Thiodan in that regard, since our culture is much more mixed because the Republic was once an amalgamation of different kinds of kingdoms, empires, and cities that warred with each other. After all, it was only almost 80,000 years that the Republic was formed."
"78,941 years." Kyrian muttered as he recalled the broadcast he heard when he awoke from using limit break.
"That's right. Anyway, to give you a definitive example on the differences of mana grade quality, look at this."
Horace beckoned his hands to will the mana to create two sabers. In a single glance, there are no differences in the sabers. Then, he grabbed the two steel sabers and clashed them against each other. The other saber shattered from the impact, while the other stood strong, having no visible scratches nor damage.
"As you can see, if two mages of different mana grades clashed, the one with higher mana quality will always come out on top."
"But that is not the end of the journey for people without high grades in mana quality. For example, mages can control the trajectory of their spells to avoid direct confrontation and improvise to make ingenious attacks that can make them victorious."
"However, if you decide to defend yourself using steel element, which you have a 100% affinity, an element that is also known for its impenetrable qualities along with your Supreme grade mana quality, then you're almost impossible to beat."