After releasing the terrifying soul pressure to envelop the entire planet, Edward landed on Earth. Immediately, he noticed something different.
"The mana in the environment is too abundant. At least 12 times higher than when I left," he muttered.
In the Undead Combination World, (this is the name that he labeled the previous universe he came from since undead was one of the main themes of the entire universe when you take into account Frank and the conquistadors, the Mummy movies, and Kaulder, mana was almost non-existent, so Edward was very sensitive once he returned to an environment full of it.
However, now, he wanted to know the reason. He logged into Skynet since he has the highest Access Level, and he found the information he wanted. When he was creating the Pangea Continent, he noticed that many of the monuments worldwide–like the pyramids scattered across the globe– formed a strange rune; he theorized that Herpo was slowly leading different civilizations of Earth to set up some sort of ceremony magic that would allow the leyline nodes to activate and return mana to the environment.
Immediately after capturing Herpo, he tasked some people to study this magic and perfect it since it was not completed. But now, it was obviously a success hence the reason for the sudden increase in mana.
Edward then found the report on the mission and read through it.
"Mana is truly a wonderful thing," muttered Edward. According to a recent discovery, the leyline nodes across the entire solar system had entered a dormant state. It was discovered that the reason for that was because a large amount of mana was instantly sucked from them, almost destroying the leylines.
So, they enter a dormant state to preserve themselves. However, they were still producing a large quantity of mana. And in the past 12,000 years, a large quantity of it was stored, so when the Mana Activation Ceremonial Magic was activated, a large quantity of mana was released in the environment, which in turn resulted in quite a few significant changes in the Empire.
The first of which is the fact that there has been a drastic increase in babies born with magical talent ever since the environment was changed 2 years ago. Even birth rate has increased slightly, however, there is not enough data to support a correlation between the two.
The second effect of this change was the birth of many more Arcane Sorcerers. This subclass has existed ever since Edward created the method for the people of the Empire to have a Gate of Truth.
However, with the change in the environment, it became easier for people to control the mana in the environment to cast spells–even if they do not have mana inside their bodies or a magical core.
The only downside to this subclass is that it relies too heavily on the environment. However, with the new magic system that Edward and the group brought from the other universe, Arcane Sorcerers will prosper in the future,
By then, they will be able to use all kinds of different energy: tectonic energy, earth energy, solar energy, water energy from the ocean, metal energy from technology products, and even cosmic energy from the universe. However, they still have to focus on increasing the strength of their souls.
After checking the information he wanted, he teleported away. He appeared in the Himalayas, on top of Mount Everest. Edward observed the mountain deeply.
He could tell that the mountain's height had increased from 8,000 meters to close to 10,000 mountains.
"Is this one of the Dense Mana Regions?"
His eyes turned golden and he could see that deep in some part of the mountain, some rock-like creatures were being bred. Edward then teleported to an area in Chile.
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Volcanoes were constantly erupting, spewing lava nonstop. Additionally, hundreds of Lava Monsters were walking around the volcanoes. The weakest of them were Tier 1 and only a little over 3 meters.
There were 10 Tier 4 Lava Monsters which were more than 15 meters tall. All of them were protecting what looked like a giant red egg more than 20 meters tall.
A great deal of heat and mana could be felt coming from that egg, and Edward could tell that a Tier 5 Lava Monster was being bred inside.
One of the changes that occurred with the resurgence of mana is the creation of [Dense Mana Regions]. In these places, the mana is so concentrated that ordinary people cannot live there.
And even Arcanists have to be of a certain Tier to be able to breathe in this area, let alone live there. On top of that, the environment has drastically changed because of this, becoming more ferocious, and more dangerous.
For example, in a Dense Mana Region where there used to be inactive volcanoes, these volcanoes will not only become active but also increase their intensity in eruption, scale, and power.
In some desert regions, sand tornadoes have become a common thing, making it impossible for normal people to live or traverse there. In Dense Mana Regions in the ocean, tsunamis and ocean tornadoes are now coming thing.
And in a normal Dense Mana Region, storms made completely out of mana could be seen regularly.
On top of all that, numerous elemental creatures have been bred in these regions. In conclusion, Dense Mana Regions are now considered inhabitable by the Empire and all have them have been isolated by enchantments.
However, with such a large quantity of mana, the Empire knows that these regions will become very valuable in the future. The reason that they have been isolated and monitored for now is that the changes in these places are not completed, so they have to wait before began taking control of them.
Edward checked a few of them to ensure that nothing unexpected will happen. As of now, the highest level of Elemental creature bred by these regions is Tier 5, which is not a problem.
However, Edward could not help but wonder what would happen if the environment changed like this while the planet was still in the old era. Most likely, the earth's scientific civilization would be destroyed by these creatures and the rise of magical civilization.
After all, in just 2 years, Tier 4 creatures capable of singlehandedly destroying countries were born. Of course, the rise of magic would only be possible if the wizards at that time could adapt to the changes of the world and take this opportunity to increase their strength.
Based on the information he read online, he teleported to Canada. While invisible, he observed a young man who was riding a floating scooter and enjoying himself.
The young man had a small amount of aura inside his body but no mana. However, this young man was somewhat special: he was an Awaker.
The increase in mana in the environment has granted some individuals special powers or gifts. Based on the data gathered, these abilities varied from elemental control, teleportation, and many other magical abilities.
They can use these abilities instinctively without studying or training, however, intense training can increase their output and stamina in using these abilities.
And these gifts were not only gifted to ordinary people–albeit 86% of the Awakers are people with no previous magical abilities. Some arcanists also awakened, and their gifts have increased their talents in certain areas.
For example, if they awakened Flame Abilities, these Arcanists have noticed that their understanding, control, and use of Flame Magic has drastically enhanced.
As Edward looked at the young man, he could see his soul, and inside his Soul Dimension, strange runes that he had never seen were engraved. This was the source of these Awakers' gifts.
A mutation occurred in their Soul granting them abilities to wield magic. With their thoughts, they can immediately activate the runes inside their souls, then, the mana in the environment will be passively activated to serve as energy for the spell.
'Fascinating. These Awakers might be the prototype of the first-ever magical users. Most likely, many of them were people born with this gift, then, at some point, some individual discovered the runes inside these Awakers.
'Then, decided to copy and study them, thus giving birth to a complete magical system.'
Edward could imagine long ago, when man was ignorant, some individual awakened magical talents. These people were probably treated as gods, or at the very least, had high status. These people were the first generation of wizards or mages.
Then, at some point, many people discovered the Soul Dimension and the runes inside. Study its mystery along with the mystery of mana, and combine them to form of complete magic system with mana and spells.
'These runes might be important for the Arcane Rune System. Most likely, they are the original runes of this universe where other runes derived from–at least the current ancient runes might be derived from them.
'So, studying them might be of great value.'
After thinking of this, he teleported to another place: there was one last place to check before he went to see his family.