Mana anomaly, this is what I would most certainly describe myself as. For humans, I would probably count as some weird form of a sentient dungeon, although I have no core.
Dungeons are mana anomalies like me, but still different to a huge degree. They are somehow semi-sentient and have basic "primal" instincts, which tell them how to escape their life as an "unmovable, not truly living" organism and how to develop into a real unique lifeform. This is probably how the different races where created.
I personally think that this "not truly living" is the biggest blessing in this world. First of all, you can´t truly die and feel. You genuinely can feel sadness and at the same time, you don´t. For example, you feel the excitement of a situation and at the time you realize this, you begin to understand that this excitement is for a completely different reason than what you wanted it to have it for. This is what sets me apart from dungeons which don´t show any form of human or animal-like emotions. I myself haven´t really figured out why this is the case though, it might be because of some memories I attained or better said:" I was born with them." People out off my previous world would most likely shout that this was reincarnation, but I personally believe that this is not the case. For me, these memories are just the result of another mana anomaly, just simply because of the memories and everything I experienced within them feel so distant and unattainable. I mean in this world where "souls" exist, which are of course another form of mana, reincarnation is technically possible. But I know nobody ever managed to claim that feat. Still, there are people that could be somewhat considered to be a reincarnation. Humans basically found a way to give the power they attained, during their life, to the next generation. This phenomenon appears when a human with great strength or great "luck" dies. The amassed mana is set free and finds a person which will most likely go a similar road of fate as them. Now you might wonder how humanity hasn´t claimed the spot as the number one race in the world. Now I tell you that humans don´t give their power up intentionally and so the human, which had attained high strength, already need really, really great luck to make this happen. But there are so many humans on this planet, which is by the way called Terra, that this shouldn´t be such a big issue. The main reason why this doesn´t occur to often is that the person who is about to attain this power from the person who previously gained those powers has to have a very similar experience or fate to him. Something which widens the restriction even further is that the person, which is about to attain this power, needs to awaken it first. Also the longer it takes for the mana to find a new "body" the more of it dissipates into nothingness.
From this, I was able to deduct that mana follows the same principles than energy in my "old" world earth. So lets quickly come to the more or less second type of energy that rules this world which is a special kind of mana. You may ask yourself: "Wait, mana again?" and I answer:" Yes." To make it easier I will refer to it as fate. So technically there is no second energy, but this one is so significant that I will categorize it as such. Fate is born from mana that represents our souls. It takes shape after the different experiences you make in life and "decides" or more shapes your "thinking" on certain topics. This special mana is also what all religions in this world want to control. Some Religions already managed to make some impact on the fate of a few people. They are commonly referred to as heroes and they get their title bestowed to them after they swear loyalty to the church. But of course, exceptions happen, especially in times of need. I might add that there is a religion that refers to me as some kind of a god. Well, this had to be expected when I created an entire race, but I kind of messed up at that point.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Other races follow different kinds of rules to gain strength. Some go after some sort of evolution or the older you get the stronger you become, principle. One of them is the Elven race and they follow the principle of the older you get the stronger you get. This process can be attributed to mana flowing into their body and strengthing it over time. One might add that Elves are the oldest "modern" race and they are the only ones from this "modern" races that know of my existence. Although they believe I´m some sort of Golem, which has gone crazy and wants to find out the truth of the world. They call me:" The mad scientist."
Now let´s talk about my "laboratory". Well, to cut things short it´s the entire world, although I have areas where I focus my attention and gather my wisdom.
So about this planet my big "playground". Many laws of physics that were created on earth apply to here, but not all of them. The law of mass, for example, isn´t completely true, which may be contributed to mana in this world. This planet is 100 times larger than the earth but just has about 70 times the mass of earth, because of dungeons and huge underground caves. It is a world which on earth would be described as the prime example for a fantasy world. (and that should explain for 99% of all people that read this what type of planet this is. #tolazy #doinganexplenationlater)
The place where I gather my wisdom is called Mannerheim and it is a giant castle in the capital of the Geralic Empire. It is ruled over by the race I created and you would believe that it is the most advanced Empire on the planet, but I tell you what it isn´t. I don´t give my research to anyone because this would result in the collapse of the so-called balance of the world. It would basically change everything, for example, it would certainly change interfere with the big peace that currently lasts, where the big powers don´t really fight an all-out war. This is an example which is either way only temporary but still, it´s a change. That is why not many people get to have the opportunity to access my forbidden stash of wisdom and the people that have, can be counted on one hand and had to undergo a trial and observation period before they had even the right to step into my "library".