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Within a large citadel, where many large buildings were erected and where thousands of Ice Giants walked around, interacting, selling meat, herbs, materials, clothes, and more, there was a certain building, the largest there was in the entire citadel.
It somewhat resembled an enormous palace of the middle ages, although many Ice Giants were walking inside and out of it, carrying materials, some bought them, others sold them.
However, most of the Ice Giants within this place exuded stronger auras than the people in the citadel, most of them being above Rank 1 Initial Stage, various of them being Middle Stage or even Upper Stage, with a few at Peak Stage, and there were even the auras of some at Rank 2… and more.
This was what was named a Sect, and the citadel around it was built by the families and the servants that served the powerful Cultivators that protected them from the wilderness outside. Even as Ice Giants, if they were mere mortals who had not awakened Mana Cores or had too low of an aptitude to even reach anywhere with it, the powerful high-ranked monsters that roamed around, some even being Rank 2 or even higher might end up killing them anyway.
In Jotunheim, there were many sects and nations, however, most of them maintained rather far away from each other, and because the entire Continent was as vast as all the continents of Earth combined, it was an immense place with vast snowfields, forests, and deadly beasts roaming every corner.
Due to the vastness of the continent, many Sects were not related to any nation, but still did many negotiations with them, often selling goods and exchanging them for the previous Mana Cores, the currency of the entire world of Yggdrasil, it was the most precious material that cultivators needed, as they could tear them down into potions to restore mana and enhance their cultivation speed, or certain techniques even let cultivators consume mana cores by turning them into pure mana particles.
Alongside this, there were many other cultivation materials endemic to certain regions of the continent, which was merely divided into four, the South Region, the North Region, the West Region, and the East Region… Each region had endemic life, materials, and more importantly, dungeons.
Sects usually formed around Dungeons, where people could easily extract materials, corpses, mana cores, and even dropped items that occasionally appeared.
One of the worldly sects of the South Region of Jotunheim, the Ice Moon Sect, held mysterious connections with other figures not only across the continent but across the entire world…
The Sect Master, merely named Lord Ice Moon, was reading ancient Grimoires, special books that granted untold magic knowledge. Usually, when a person had the talent for it, after reading and comprehending an entire grimoire, they would be able to learn Spells.
However, the grimoire he held with his hands was different from others that Sect Members would usually read… It held a large tree-shaped drawing on its cover, and the title was written with Norse letters, simply named "Ragnarök".
"Hm… I have completely forgotten how many times I've read this book, and there is always something new I discover when I put my mind to it. Truly, whoever wrote this book was someone of the eras of old… To grasp such knowledge is my task yet… I am so far away from truly understanding the Inheritance within this book," sighed the man, he was a tall and handsome Ice Giant, with pale blue skin, tattoos resembling letters and winds across his body, which were in fact runes that enhanced his magic power, and a long white beard, with a bald head. His eyes were sharp and glowed with yellow-gold color.
He wore finely crafted clothes made of ice wolf leather, ice bear, and other monsters he had hunted, with the head of a wolf and a bear at each side, over his shoulders, making him seem intimidating at first glance, especially because he had a large necklace made of the fangs of the strong beasts he had slain.
He closed the book as a person came to his side as if appearing out of thin air… Lord Ice Moon knew who this person was, and although he should have gotten more surprised by such an ability to emerge out of thin air as easily, he was already used to it.
"Enjoying the book?" asked the man at his side, he was of a way smaller stature, only about two meters, while Lord Ice Moon easily surpassed three meters. His appearance was that of a typical elf, with long blonde hair, sharp ears, and a beautiful face and slender body. He wore royal green and yellow clothes, with a tunic showing the insignia of his Sect.
His eyes flashed with a crimson-red hue.
"If it isn't you… Indeed, I am enjoying it until I sensed that you were coming, Lord Greenwood," said the Lord Ice Moon, talking to the elf man politely… this was because this elf was not an ordinary mortal, but exuded the strong Aura of Rank 4…
"Hoh? Anyways, I have come to inform you that my drones had detected two Unique Ability Users within your territory… Truly, this continent is filled with them," said the elf.
"So you burnt down an entire town and didn't find her, and now that she came back with someone else you finally come to tell me?" asked Lord Ice Moon.
"Oh? How did you know about that?" asked the elf.
"I have eyes everywhere, elf..." said Lord Ice Moon.
"Well, not like you care, right? Or are you going to tell me that the benevolent Sect Master has a compassionate heart for complete strangers now?" asked the elf.
"Sigh… So what are you planning to do now, Lord Greenwood?" asked the Lord Ice Moon.
"Now that I've spotted them I will simply track them down and send War Drones against them soon after. I require them alive though… One seems to have reincarnated as an Ice Dragon from all things, quite the interesting specimen… The other is an ice giant girl," said the elf.
"Then do as you please… I will tell my people to not interfere with them," sighed Lord Ice Moon.
"Good, thank you for your cooperation, my good friend," said the elf, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Lord Ice Moon sighed in relief, the aura of this monster was not simply because of its high Mana Core Rank… this monster was way deeper than that, way more mysterious, he was a being that even a Rank 4 Sect Master such as Lord Ice Moon could not dare to offend… He could only obey and nod his head… against the might of this old monster.
"To think that an elf from all things would be so vicious… Although I am barely grasping the situation, and I barely know his motives or his origins… But I better not delve deeper, especially because the entire Sect might be in danger of being wiped out if I do," sighed the Lord Ice Moon.
"Unique Ability Users… extremely rare souls that come from another world and bring powers that defy magic as we know it… What does this man want with them?"
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