Extra

by Stayrr

Third

46. Odyssey Of The Blind God 33-64

Odyssey of the Blind God #Chapter 33 Control Of The Ancient Monarch - Read Odyssey of the Blind God Chapter 33 Control Of The Ancient Monarch Online - All Page - FREEWN

Ever since Nial had awoken his origin, he had never really thought about his own situation, and the most important goal he had in mind was to support his parents financially in order to allow them to purchase better medicines for his sister.

Every single thing he had done since the day of his awakening had been for Sabrina, and Nial hadn't even noticed that until his best friend scolded him.

Recalling the short period that had passed since then, he realized that he could have done most of the things differently.

Knowing what he had to do in order to gain the most benefits was important, and that was exactly what he hadn't done because he had been way too focused on short-term gains.

Even though he had a rough plan on what specific traits he had to improve on, the way in which he was supposed to proceed was something Nial didn't know.

At least, that was his current condition, and when Nial thought about the feisty lecture his friend had given him, he slowly understood that he had made substantial mistakes, which he had to fix.

Nial knew that this was not something that would happen overnight, but realization and acceptance of mistakes were considered the first step to becoming a better version of yourself.

With that in mind, he averted his attention to releasing his mana fluctuations in order to visualize his surroundings.

Grabbing the closest manual that was just an arm's length away from him, he read the title that didn't sound special in any way.

Yet, instead of judging a book by its cover, Nial flicked it open and read a few pages, only to frown the moment he realized something that caused his mood to plummet.

'I don't know what some of the terms mean…' The first page was filled with dozens of terms he had never heard of before and the fact started to bother him.

Based on the contents inside it, the technique seemed like any other ordinary one, and even if it was possibly something he could be interested in, there was one thing he understood clearly- many techniques had requirements such as affinities, specific abilities, or a specific amount of mana one required to possess.

With that in mind, Nial understood that it was unlikely to find any great techniques at the higher floor of the pagoda because they had to be the best of the best.

Thus, the required amount of mana someone would need to practice such techniques would probably be tens of times higher than what he could provide.

Yet, when he averted his attention to Melvin, Nial was able to hear the excited exclamations of his friend.

"Nial, look here! My Master found the technique [Path of a Thousand Lightningstrikes]! That's so amazing!!! My father had searched for that technique earlier but he had failed to procure it. Nobody was willing to sell it...Maybe I should ask my Master if he can lend me the technique...I will be able to improve my understanding of the Lightning's essence!"

Nial just smiled upon hearing Melvin's excited babble.

He was always astonished by how Melvin's mood could change so quickly. Sometimes, he was envious of this ability, but then, it could also be extremely distracting, and unsuitable in certain situations.historical

With that in mind, Nial was able to let go of his envy after a few moments.

Nevertheless, based on the technique's name, Nial grew certain that it would suit Melvin.

As such, he agreed with his friend and remarked,

"If possible, try to convince your master to lend it to you. It would be great if you wouldn't blast me away with your uncontrolled bolts of lightning…"

Nial tried to tease his friend, and it seemed to work as he heard footsteps rushing towards him from behind.

This caused his faint smile to widen as he added,

"Your Master must be one of the stronger powerhouses in Katu, right? How else would he be able to procure a technique your father could not obtain?"

After he had raised his doubt, Melvin's footsteps muffled down as his friend's voice which was filled with pride echoed through the room.

"Master Junades is amongst the strongest powerhouses in the entire Stinon alliance! He is probably amongst the top 1000 Originals in the nine shelters of humanity!"

Nial was astonished by the news and realized that Junades was a mighty cultivator.

But he still felt that other humans who had survived the dungeon's descent might also have constructed some shelters.

After all, the dungeon descent had happened several decades after the first dungeon had emerged.

Yet, instead of commenting on something with half-baked assumptions, Nial chose to remain silent.

Rather than starting a discussion that might turn into a heated debate, he continued to search through various techniques.

He knew that he didn't understand most complex terms, which originated from his lack of knowledge about Originals, dungeons, martial art techniques, as well as the fact that he was not yet proficient in reading things.

In the end, he had a lot to catch up to so he was a bit relieved at his reading progress that showed significant improvements.

As such, he tried to comprehend the things he had yet to learn, which in turn, made him extremely interested in getting to know more about the techniques.

Learning a technique would allow him to become much stronger because he would slowly start getting to know his body, how to move it in the most efficient way, and how to employ all necessary groups of muscles to attain the highest strength!

Because of that, Nial wanted to find the best possible technique for his current condition which was far from perfect.

After some time of reading multiple techniques, Nial noticed that the way in which he wanted to tackle his issues was completely wrong.

He was not even sure what exactly he was looking for. Would a movement technique be the best as his first technique, or would it be better to learn a complete martial art technique, right off the bat?

Weapon-based techniques were not what Nial was looking for because he and his parents should be able to learn and use the selected technique.

To make the most out of it, the technique should be something that could be used universally.

While thinking about that, Nial got frustrated because there was no such technique, and he turned towards Melvin, who was excitedly skimming through different techniques.

"By the way, where is your master? It would be great if I could seek his advice on the best suitable technique for myself…"

Even if Nial couldn't be sure that Master Junades would answer his questions, let alone help him to pick a suitable technique, he could at least ask. There was no harm in trying.

He wouldn't kill him, just for asking a question- that was something Nial was relatively sure about.

Unfortunately, Melvin's answer was not really helpful.

"I have no idea, but I doubt we will find him. He will probably find us first, either way!"

After that Melvin shrugged his shoulders before he approached Nial and tried to appease him.

"What technique are you searching for? Is it something to help you improve your control over mana, including your mana perception to visualize any kind of object in a longer range, or do you want to improve your movements first?"

His question stumped him as Nial had not even thought about either of the options.

In an attempt to avoid answering Melvin, he just picked the closest book from the next shelf without thinking.

"[Control of the Ancient Monarch] odd name…" He mumbled before he opened the first page, and read the first few sentences while using his mana perception.

Owing to the mana fluctuations that radiated from the book that felt like it was extremely old and tattered, his hands had reached for it subconsciously.

His mana perception was slightly off, but that was not further problematic.

Barely a few minutes passed in which he had adjusted to the manual's mana fluctuations, only to frown deeply as he let out a sigh.

"I don't understand it!"

Earlier, it was only the complex terms and jargon he had not understood, but in the manual, he was currently reading, almost every single word seemed to be written in an entirely different language.

Nial knew that this was not the case, but he simply couldn't understand the words he was reading.

This frustrated him because he felt like the manual might be useful owing to a single sentence he had understood.

[The first step of becoming a mighty Combatant is to comprehend the energy you are using, and how to utilize it perfectly!]

That was interesting, and Nial wanted to continue reading it, understand it, and learn what the writer of the manual truly meant!

But before he could continue reading, a stern voice floated towards him making him involuntarily stiffen.

"Brat, isn't it obvious that you cannot comprehend the technique right off the bat? Do you expect to understand everything the moment you read it? You are too naive, lad…"

It was just after the calm and vigorous voice resounded through the small hall that Nial perceived the arrival of a young man with an athletic body through his mana perception.

He hadn't heard, smelled or sensed any vibrations from the surrounding which astonished Nial, because the man had suddenly appeared behind them.

The young man was less than a meter away from them and both Melvin and Nial turned around to face him.

At that moment, Nial felt a bolt of electricity spreading through his entire body as his mana perception was now fully averted from the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique to the young man.

'He is fucking strong!!' Gulping down nervously, Nial's body instinctively retreated and he bumped into the wooden shelf where he had picked up the old manual before.

However, instead of reprimanding him further, the calm and vigorous voice turned joyous the moment Nial felt a calculative gaze run over his entire body.

"Oh, I think I know you, brat! You should be Melvin's blind friend, right? This poor disciple of mine never had many friends, so he always talked about you and your sister!

I always wanted to see you, and it seems like today is the day. Nice meeting you, and I apologize for my disciple's behavior. He has been pampered too much by his mother...ah, by the way, my name is Junades!"

Standing in front of Master Junades with a blank expression, Nial didn't know what to say and merely blinked.

He didn't expect one of the top 1000 ranked Originals of humanity to be such a mood bomb.

His voice sounded cheerful and based on the way Nial was able to perceive Junades' outlines, his entire body was overflowing with joy.

Because of that, he was flabbergasted, and could not think of a proper way to greet Junades. Melvin seemed to have understood his hesitation so he mumbled beside him.

"Don't be too astonished. He is one of the unique Originals. He was unable to feel any joy and excitement before he awoke his origin. You remember the unique Originals, right? They grow stronger when they feel the emotions that had been previously sealed!"

Melvin spoke in such a low voice that Nial had issues hearing him properly. Yet, the moment he heard everything, even he couldn't help but be excited.

"Ohh! That's amazing, so he must grow even more powerful the more joy he feels! I wonder if he gets more excited when he fights and, in turn, if it further increases his strength! That would be extremely powerful."

Nial's voice sounded extremely curious and he didn't even notice how his hushed whisper had transformed into an excited squeal.

Thus, it was no wonder that Junades was able to hear Nial, which caused him to smile slyly as he asked,

"Do you want to test it out? I won't use any mana, and only my emotions to fight you."

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Astonished about the sudden invitation to spar with one of the top powerhouses of humanity, Nial couldn't help but feel that this was a great opportunity for him.

However, upon sensing the excitement in Melvin's mana fluctuations, his initial reaction changed almost instantly.

He sensed that something was off because Melvin was way more excited at the prospect of his master and best friend fighting than he should be.

Thus he couldn't help but bow lightly before politely rejecting the offer.

"Master Junades, I have to apologize, but I'm currently not worthy enough to spar with you. I'm currently searching for a suitable technique in order to learn how to fight as I'm still a rookie in the fields of combat experience, combat knowledge, and many other topics that are necessary to know to fight.

Furthermore, my condition makes everything a little bit more challenging, and I do not want to bore Master Junades with my ineptitude."

When Nial finished speaking, he immediately noticed how Melvin's excitement had died down and had been replaced with confusion.

Yet, seeing that Nial had turned to face Melvin, Junades noticed something that made him smile faintly.

"It seems like you are not as slow-witted as your friend thinks, otherwise, Melvin wouldn't have lectured you that loudly!"

Speaking to Nial, Junades looked at him curiously after having figured out why Nial was reluctant to spar with him.

Thus, one of the things Melvin had accused his friend of seemed to be wrong.

Because of that, he wanted to personally see if the other complaints Melvin had about his friend were true or not.

In the end, there may not be a reason for Junades to show any interest in Nial, but for Melvin, who he had taught to be level-headed and control his anger, Nial had to be extremely important to his disciple.

That was already more than enough to test the blind young man, who Junades knew almost nothing about.

Excluding the information provided by Melvin, there was no intel he had yet procured about the blind youth. As such, Junades wanted to spar with Nial in order to figure out what kind of person the young man was.

Wanting to know more about him, Junades tweaked his earlier suggestion and asked again.

"Alright, if you don't want to spar with me just like that...how about I give you the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique for a large discount so that you can afford it?

For that to happen, you will have to hit me anywhere you want, three times in total!"

Nial had already figured out that Master Junades had eavesdropped on them, but that was not exactly something that astonished him.

Instead, it would have been weirder if he would have had no clue of a stranger entering his home.

After all, it was a given to keep an eye on who enters your private property.

Meanwhile, Melvin seemed to be more astonished about the sudden offer his Master gave Nial.

In his opinion, it had already been illogical for Nial to decline his master's request for a spar.

Yet, the fact that stingy Junades gave Nial such an offer clearly showed that he was interested in something about the young, newly awakened blind young man.

As such, he remained quiet and simply watched his friend and master discuss the further course of action without meddling in it.

It was a lucrative offer, one which he could not refuse, certainly not after he checked the price tag of the technique, which caused his hand to tremble violently.

While carefully placing the manual back on one of the numerous shelves, Nial was fully aware that Master Junades was itching to figure something out, otherwise, he wouldn't make such a tempting offer.

This caused Nial to wonder if there was something special about him, which was not the case as long as one was unaware of the Odyssey seed within his body.

For a fleeting second, Nial thought that Junades had figured out something about his Odyssey seed, but discarded this thought a moment later.

If someone knew about his Odyssey seed they might be interested in him, but this interest would be different in comparison to what Master Junades was trying to get the hang of.

To Nial, it felt as if Master Junades was interested in finding out more about him, including his personality, determination, and so on, and not just one specific trait of his.

That was even more confusing because it made no sense, but instead of continuing to assume things and interpreting actions and people's attitudes in different ways, he cleared his mind in an instant.

His friend's words were still ringing in his mind, and Nial nodded his head while he grinned lightly and replied,

"It would be an honor to spar with a true Master! I hope Master Junades would restrict his strength, so I won't be beaten to a pulp."

Having accepted the offer, Nial bowed slightly once again and followed the proper formalities. Meanwhile, Master Junades shook his hand with a joyous smile on his face.

"Obviously, I will restrict my strength, kiddo. What kind of request is that? Hahaha… Alright, follow me to the elevator, we will go down to the basement!"

Saying so, he walked past Nial in a specific direction while simultaneously releasing a faint thread of mana with which he enveloped the [Control of the Ancient Monarch].

It hovered in the air for a moment before being pulled towards Junades and landed on his hand.

As Melvin followed him, he couldn't help but feel somewhat odd about both Master Junades' and Nial's behavior.

Something bothered him but he was not sure what exactly it was.

Yet instead of saying anything, he wanted to drag Nial along with himself, but surprisingly, Nial had already fallen in step behind Junades, and his expression was serious.

This told Melvin that Nial was ready to give his all in the spar against Master Junades.

Whether this was solely in the hopes of hitting Junades a total of three times in order to afford to purchase the technique, or because he wanted to show himself, and possibly the others, that he was not as weak as others believed he was, Melvin wasn't sure.

In the end, he might be at a disadvantage due to his disability, but that allowed him to focus on other things that cultivators with vision would otherwise miss out on.

Now that the moment of the spar was upon him, Nial tried to think of a way to hit Master Junades a total of three times.

He knew that this would be an extremely challenging task, but attempting it with all his might was the only choice he had.

On the bright side, he didn't think that Master Junades would hurt him in any way. It was more likely that he would defeat him in a single move, and fight like Melvin, cruelly showing him what exactly he was lacking.

Other than that, Nial hoped that Junades would guide him, but that was just his wishful thinking.

Less than a minute passed after they had entered the elevator, and reached the basement before walking into a room that seemed to be relatively empty.

Dozens of different types of weapons were hanging on the walls, and there were a few poles that jutted out of the ground.

Yet, even they disappeared after Junades pressed a button next to a large board where dozens of different levers, buttons and all kinds of monitors could be perceived by Nial.

This told him that they had entered a high technology combat hall that could be used for training purposes, spars, as well as evaluation of combatants using technology.

The entire room could probably be customized, which was pretty cool.

Nonetheless, it was expensive, and Nial had only heard about such rooms from Originals who would proudly boast about their purchases on the Internet.

However, instead of trying to make sense of the buttons, levers and all of the stuff he didn't understand, to begin with, he entered the combat ring that was ready to use.historical

There was not much to prepare and it was just an enclosed empty space.

With that in mind, he turned towards Melvin, who had already taken out the Viper spear from his spatial ring before he threw it toward his friend.

Shooting his hand in the air the moment he sensed the Viper spear approaching him, he caught it before beginning to spin it as a warm-up.

With the Viper spear's blade retracted, Nial stood opposite Junades, who was also taking out a rod from one of the walls in order to spar with him.

While Nial was not sure if that was Junades' main weapon, Melvin knew that this was not the case.

To be precise, Melvin had never seen his master fighting with a rod, spear, or any kind of weapon like that.

Yet, rather than having a weak spearmanship, the moment Junades swung around the rod, and tested out multiple movements, Nial, who had barely perceived anything owing to the distance he was keeping from Master Junades, couldn't help but gulp.

'Was that really a good decision?' He wondered, but before he could regret his decision, Junades remarked,

"I won't use any ability or any mana, just my physical strength which I would restrict to the 1st Origin rank and emotions! Pay attention, kiddo!"

Smiling brightly, Junades pushed his feet from the ground and advanced towards Nial, who grew tense the moment he felt his entire body being enveloped in pressure.

It felt like he was surrounded by joy, yet, at the same time, the same joy was slowly morphing into an intent to fight against Nial.

With that in mind, Junades emerged in front of Nial before executing a simple thrust that targeted Nial's abdomen.

However, just as Nial moved the Viper spear whose blade had been retracted to create a perfect balance between the rod's tip and bottom, he perceived that the attack's target was suddenly changing.

From targeting his abdomen, Junades made subtle movements in order to change the thrust's trajectory.

Through this, the rod was not targeting his chest, which Nial noticed early enough to react.

Because of that, he swung the Viper spear, and tried to block Junades' attack, only to realize that he had miscalculated something!

In fact, Junades' change in trajectory was only a preparation for the real attack and a feint to distract Nial.

Junades didn't want to attack his abdomen or chest, but his lower body!

The subtle move towards his chest was similar to moving backward in order to gain a little bit more space to take a good swing, which was exactly what Junades did.

Nial was so flabbergasted by this sudden change in the attack pattern that he could only feel extreme pain in his right leg that had to endure the impact of Junades' rod's swing.

However, as he was gritting his teeth and trying to bear the pain, Junades' dealt another blow.

After hitting his right leg, Junades smoothly moved around Nial, pulling away his leg with the rod that seemed to be coiling around his entire lower body like a ginormous snake that had him in its grasp.

Not even his mana perception was able to follow Junades' quick movements as the visualization was too slow in order to process everything directly.

Nonetheless, even his other senses seemed to be too slow to keep up with Junades' speed, which was mostly due to the fact that the noises Junades made were muffled and also completely different from how he actually attacked.

Suffering an onslaught of heavy attacks, Nial knew that both of his legs would be covered in bruises.

Yet, instead of bothering about the pain that tried to influence his mind, and makes him give up, Nial gritted his teeth.

He couldn't even deflect Junades' attack, how could he think about attacking him?

There was not a single opening, and Nial's senses were betraying him, clearly showing him the issues he had to overcome.

First, his mana control was lacking severely as a single attack by Junades was enough to distract and prevent him from sensing his surroundings.

Other than that, his focus on the remaining senses was also wavering.

Knowing what mistakes he made, Nial was trying to work a way around his flaws, fixing them at a pace that seemed to be extremely slow.

Yet, what seemed slow to Nial shocked Melvin once again, and even Junades had to acknowledge that Nial was much faster at figuring out and acknowledging his mistakes than he had expected.

With that in mind, he increased the difficulty for Nial slightly, accelerating the speed at which he swung the rod around himself.

The additional pressure caused due to the sudden burst in speed was unbearable, and his body was just screaming in pain leaving him no room to even think of evading or defending against a single attack Julandes initiated.

This enraged Nial, not because he was being played around with, but because he had overestimated himself, his combat experience while underestimating the strength one could utilize as long as one had undergone proper training.

Even if he wanted to complain, there was nothing Nial was able to do at this exact moment.

He could only try to endure the attacks while eliminating his flaws in order to be hit less or to evade and deflect attacks.

This shouldn't be impossible but in order to achieve this, he suppressed his emotions forcefully, allowing the analytical part of his brain to take over, and figure out how Junades was moving, what kind of mistakes he made, and how exactly Junades countered every move of his.

More than an hour passed as they continued sparring, and Nial's entire body was covered in bruises, but he had yet to give up!

Melvin looked at his friend in shock, and he had wanted to intervene many times.

Yet, every single time, Master Junades held him back as if he was trying to see how long Nial could go on.

Master Junades could barely contain his excitement, and it was at exactly this moment when Melvin saw something.

Whether it was a coincidence or Nial's instincts, Melvin was not sure about that, but it didn't matter.

Just as Nial took a step backward, he leaned forward, expecting the rod thrust as well as Junades' moves over the last hour or so which helped him predict that Junades would move forward.

And as expected, Junades took a step forward, followed by the rod he thrust forward, targeting his abdomen just like he thought.

However, just as Nial thought he could deflect Junades' attacks for the first time by moving in accordance to the expected trajectory, he sensed that the atmosphere seemed to be overflowing with excitement.

Following that, Junades' movement accelerated and the rod reached Nial before he could complete his own move, defeating him without much effort.

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While lying on the ground, Nial breathed heavily.

He wanted to move, but his body rejected his plea, and Nial was barely able to look at Junades, who gave him a faint smile.

However, instead of giving up now that he lay on the ground, Nial didn't want to accept his defeat.

His mind was still working relentlessly telling him to not give up. There was a reason that his origin had suddenly awoken, and giving up just because his body didn't want to move anymore was not something he would accept easily!

It was at that moment, when Odyssey seed pulsated for the very first time in Nial's life, shaking his conscience.

His body flinched, and despite its unwillingness to move, Nial's mind was forcefully taking over control of his body, urging it to exceed his body's limits.

At first, he thought that he had already exceeded the limits of his body, but that was not entirely correct because more uncontrollable strength was hidden behind a second limiting factor that prevented his body from breaking apart.

"I..can still go on!" Nial grumbled while gritting his teeth in order to bear with the sudden pain that coursed through his body that could barely move owing to the removed restriction.

Even though he didn't know where exactly the pain he felt originated from, he knew that the Odyssey seed had something to do with everything that had just happened, and was about to happen.

Not only was he able to move, but also his [Mana Perception] ability seemed to have become stronger just now, and the fact that the surrounding mana was being pulled towards him listening to his every command.

It was almost as if he was in full control of everything within the range of the [Mana Perception] ability!

Unable to accept being defeated so easily, even if his opponent was countless times mightier than him, Nial overcame his limits, creating a forced reaction of the Odyssey seed that finally listened to his plea and gave him the chance to retaliate.

It was this unwillingness and his desire to win and to be strong that he was feeling for the first time in his life that allowed Nial to meet the first requirement of becoming the true holder of the Odyssey seed and break through his mortal limits with his sheer willpower.

Even if it looked like he was only sparring, the fact that he was not even able to deflect a single attack clearly showed how powerless he truly was, how insignificant, and useless his entire existence was.

For the first time in his life, Nial was sincerely seeking strength as he tightly grasped the Viper spear that began to vibrate lightly as if it was awaiting Nial.

Both Nial and his spear were ready to give their all in order to fight Master Junades, who stared at him with a glint of excitement in his eyes.

"Kiddo, you are...amazing!!"

Swinging the rod around his body, Junades' increased the speed of his movements which further improved when he was unable to suppress his excitement anymore.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't be that excited to fight against a late bloomer Original, but given the fact that Nial was still standing on his feet after more than half an hour of being beaten into a pulp, he couldn't help but be amazed at his resilience.

When he had first fought Melvin, it had been astonished that the young brat had managed to hold his ground for 15 minutes, which was a record in itself.

As such, Nial was setting a new record that was way farther than Melvin's old record.

Yet, even after Junades had dealt the finishing blow, the young man was still standing on his feet.

Even though he was blind, Originals with disability were not to be taken lightly. That was because disabled Originals would either wallow in self-pity, or their determination would allow them to become monstrous existences.

It was due to this fact that Junades hadn't even considered sparring with Nial lightly in order to give him leverage.

Instead, if he were to compare his first spar with Melvin and Nial, the current one was something Junades took much more seriously.

That was something he would have never expected to happen because Melvin had had years of training before they first met.

Yet, it was obvious that Nial was just a greenhorn, a pure rookie, but his determination and tenacity made him several times more threatening than Melvin had been then!

Because of that, Junades couldn't help but feel excited as he thought that he might be witnessing a real monster and future prodigy right now.

Nial was lacking a lot, but his determination and unbending will allowed him to stand his ground, and swing the Viper spear around.

His movements were shaky, but the change in atmosphere Nial was currently causing was something that seemed to attract the surrounding mana, and pull it towards Nial.

At first glance, this didn't change anything, and it looked like a wasted tactic, but upon using a faint thread of mana, and breaking the rules he had enforced just to satiate his curiosity, he couldn't help but feel astonished.

'Is he controlling the mana in his body to forcefully move?..Is he awakening an Innate ability?...No that cannot be, this would force him to consistently activate his ability until his mana core is dried… or maybe he is learning how to access his ability.'

By using more Mana to envelop Nial with it, he investigated the young man intently.

Melvin noticed that Master Junades was going against his own rules, but he was unable to say a single word.

His eyes were glued to Nial and the fact that he was exceeding his limits over and over again.

The moment Nial had been defeated earlier and thrown to the ground, Melvin had sighed in relief, thinking that neither Nial was abnormal, nor he himself was too weak.

Yet, when Nial got up from the ground despite his entire body being covered in blue and purple bruises, Melvin couldn't help himself anymore, and his entire being was utterly shocked about what he was just witnessing.

Nial moved the Viper spear with much more precision than earlier, and the danger emanating from him had increased drastically.

Nial's entire mind was clear, yet, his head was aching heavily similar to the rest of his body that was moving owing to the supply of mana it got from the surrounding.

He was not sure how or what he was doing, but what he was clearly aware of was the fact that the duration for which he would be able to move his body, was short, extremely short.

If his assumption was correct, he had barely half a minute to make a move.

Right now, Nial had discarded the idea of hitting Master Junades three times. Instead, one hit was more than enough in order to accept his defeat a bit gracefully.

Winning was not an option anymore, and that was something Nial was fully aware of, but his desire and determination to not lose without having been able to retaliate fueled him with energy.

That being said, and the short span of time that was left, Nial pushed his feet from the ground, catapulting himself towards Master Junades, who had been awaiting his attack.historical

While staring intently at Nial, he quickly retracted his mana before concealing it in order to prevent him from accidentally using it again.

In the short moment in which he had to avert his focus, Nial's movements started to confuse Junades because it felt like Nial was barely moving a muscle.

Yet, Master Junades knew that this was not the case. Instead, it was the crude control of mana that made it seem like Nial's body was a puppet whose strings were being pulled by a skilled puppet master.

Nonetheless, instead of moving slower owing to the restricting factor of his movements, Nial grew much faster than before.

His movements were sharp and the way he wielded the Viper spear was more lethal than before.

It was almost as if Nial was mimicking Junades' moves, and both Junades and Melvin were able to see this, while Nial was completely unaware of anything he did.

By thrusting the Viper spear in the direction of Junades, Nial attacked but Junades easily deflected it, while continuing to swing the rod, and trying to hit Nial with the lower end.

However, contrary to before, Nial had instinctively repeated the same process, causing the lower ends of their weapons to collide.

Suddenly, a faint smile emerged on Nial's face as he inserted the much-needed mana into the Viper spear that began to vibrate lightly.

A fraction of a second later, the lower end of the Viper spear that was still in touch with Junades's rod, moved as a blade was suddenly released, pushing away Junades' rod, before it was retracted again.

The Viper spear had only blades at the tip, thus, the current lower end, was in fact, the tip, which Nial had turned while swinging it upside down earlier before their clash..

Owing to this, Nial was able to make use of the small gap the released and retracted blade gave him, allowing him to use the fraction of a second Junades would need to realize what happened in order to take a swing after Master Junades' upper body.

At that moment, Melvin's hand quivered, seeing his friend barely a few centimeters away from achieving something he was not even able to do after years of training.

Yet, there was no envy in his eyes, but only joy, as he subconsciously blurted out.

"GO FOR IT, NIAL!!!"

Unfortunately, just as Melvin shouted out his excitement about his friend's achievement, Master Junades decided to show Nial and his disciple what it meant to be a Unique Original!

Within an instant, the entire room was shaking owing to the pressure his sheer excitement to fight and defeat the opponent in front of him emanated.

Even though this was just a demonstration, Junades wanted to clearly show how dangerous and ruthless some Originals were.

As such, making use of just the pressure he released, he forcefully halted Nial's attack that was just about to hit him in his chest.

With all his might, Nial tried to push through the invisible layer of pressure he was not even able to perceive, only to sense that Junades was smiling as he loosened his grasp over the rod he was holding.

"Good job, kiddo, but now, sleep!"

Saying so, he used the flat of his hand as a means to slash at Nial's neck before taking a step back.

It was just a moment later that everything returned back to normalcy, including the eerie pressure that simply disappeared as he lost his consciousness.

Slumping to the ground, the battle that was just supposed to be a spar finally ended, leaving behind a flabbergasted Melvin, who stared at his unconscious friend, and Master Julandes, who stared at Nial with a bright smile.

On that day, a true monster, in the form of a blind young man was born, taking the first of the many steps towards Godhood.

Far away from the blue planet, at a place filled with nothing but endless darkness, a being noticed something that had caused it to awaken from a deep slumber lasting eons. Holding a small crystal in his hand he injecting energy into it, mumbling a single line before quieting down, re-merging with the darkness that enveloped him greedily.

"Initiate the second phase on Jundra...but don't allow the others to find out!"

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After waking up, Nial felt as if a memory that had been sealed in the depths of his conscience had somehow resurfaced.

It was related to the incident from 15 years ago when he was a toddler.

A hazy memory consisting of the outlines of someone...or something emerged in his mind, only to disperse a moment later.

His mind was rattling as he forced it to recall the memory but the more he tried, the more it slipped away from him just like grains of sand that would trickle out of someone's fist no matter how hard they tried to hold on to it.

A searing headache shot up his mind as it began to ache heavily, without giving him a second glance of the being he had seen.

Suddenly, the pain intensified and spread through his entire body making it hard for him to even lift his hand to hold his head.

'Fuck, I cannot move!' Nial thought, realizing that every single cell in his body was begging for rest after being injured due to his reckless act of exceeding his body's limitation.

Tired, he wanted to sink into a deep slumber in his bed, only to notice something the moment he took a deep breath. The space smelled familiar to him.

'I am...in my room?'

At that moment, he heard noises from next to him, and Nial didn't even have to think, who it was as he had already smelled and sensed it.

"M-Melvin, how much...time passed since we returned?" It took him a lot of effort to even speak a few words but he was glad that he could utter them.

He had already thought that he wouldn't be able to move his mouth either, let alone speak, and it was extremely difficult.

Nonetheless, it worked, and that was important.

When Melvin, who was getting ready to sleep, heard his voice, he jumped up from the mattress and stared at him in shock.

"Nial?! You are already awake?? How are you? Don't move! Master Junades said that you need to rest to allow your body to recuperate from being strained too much!"

It was great that Melvin was worried about him, but Nial couldn't help but feel that his friend didn't sort his priorities first.

As such, Nial simply said one word, "Infos" in order to show that he couldn't speak much and that he wanted to get some information.

His body didn't want him to move while it was a heavy burden to speak, hence that was the only thing he could do, which Melvin fortunately realized.

"Of course, but I'll first tell Maline and Miles that you are awake, they were really worried about you!"historical

Saying so, Melvin turned towards the door, but before he could leave, he heard Nial say just one more word again.

"Later"

Right now, Nial wanted to get information. If his parents were to find out that he had woken up, they would storm through the room and create pure chaos.

To understand this, one didn't even have to know his parents really well.

Only now did Melvin understand why Nial was adamant on getting some information first.

Thus, he turned back to his friend before sitting down on his mattress.

"You are really a nutcase, Nial! I never thought that you would be masochistic enough to fight against Master Junades for more than half an hour without collapsing on the ground.

I barely made it 15 minutes on my first try. Well, but you slept for three days straight, so I guess your willpower is truly something to be frightened of…"

Nial was astonished to hear that he had slept for three days because even after a rest of 72 hours his body felt like it was tearing apart.

As long as he didn't move, everything was fine, but even thinking was painful.

Thus, Nial couldn't help but wonder if his effort was really worth it because he had lost against Master Junades. He hadn't even hit him a single time though he had tried his best.

Yet, what he didn't know was that Master Junades had cheated, which Melvin mentioned only now.

"Did you know that Master Junades first thought that you had awoken an innate ability that strengthened your willpower or something like that? Because of that he got curious and used some mana in order to figure out what was going on with you.

That means, he lost against you! That is really something you can be proud of, you're a real monster, Nial...hehe!!"

His friend's excited squeal caused a faint smile to emerge on Nial's face.

It hurt, but even if his entire body was aching, he knew that he couldn't simply continue lying in bed.

As such, he forced his body to move, knowing that he was healing rapidly owing to the effects of multiple healing serums that were already tending to his injuries and exhaustion.

Thus, while listening to the summary of events that occurred during the last three days, Nial began to do a warm-up and stretched his body to relax his sore muscles.

"Either way, Master Junades knocked you out because he was not sure if you would harm yourself any further by continuing to fight if he wouldn't have done that.

After that, he brought you back home, and your mother scolded him left and right.

In the end, I had to tell Maline that she was just lecturing one of the strongest powerhouses in Katu, which I should have done a little bit earlier because she almost fainted upon hearing that.

Fortunately, Master Junades is a sensible man, and he could clearly understand why Maline reacted that way….you looked like dozens of people had thrashed you, after all…

Either way, because he cheated, Master Junades gave me the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique in addition to a letter, which he asked me to hand over to you. If you want, I can read the letter out loud once I'm done summarizing everything.

After he handed me the letter he had hastily scribbled, Master Junades also thrust three healing serums in my hands. They were of a high grade and quality.

In the end, it was only because we fed you one every day that you woke up so soon, otherwise you would have slept for one more week, at the bare minimum!

Either way, we also fed one of the healing serums we purchased to Sabrina, and they seem to be even more potent than I thought.

Today, Sabrina was awake for a total of two hours, and she asked about you.

You should really meet her tomorrow, she looks much better than before, and you will be astonished once you hear her voice. She is as stubborn as ever!

Oh..I think I strayed away a bit so…back to the main topic.

Yesterday, your parents seemed to have won something from the Originals lottery. They won a total of five permanent membership cards to Katu's central library, isn't that great?

Other than that...nothing special happened. I ventured into the Melind dungeon to test the [Path of a Thousand Lightningstrikes] technique, and it's truly miraculous.

I'm really eager to see how you will handle the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique!"

Nial had not expected so many things to happen when he was unconscious. The best news was that his sister was now able to stay awake for a total of two hours.

That was reassuring and clearly showed Nial that his path had been the correct one and his efforts hadn't been futile...at least to some extent.

Because of that, he began to exert a bit more force while moving and ignored the pain spreading through his body that felt like light faint electric currents zapping his body.

"What about the letter?"

Nial asked once he made sense of what exactly had happened.

Having expected Nial's question, Melvin took out the handwritten letter, creating rustling noises before he began to read out loud.

[Hey Nial, I don't want to make any excuses so I'll be blunt; I cheated in our spar, so you won our small bet.

Despite that, I don't want to sell the technique. Instead, consider it as a gift from me! Use the rest of your money however you please, but there is one condition; You have to use it for yourself!

I heard Melvin lecturing you, so I kind of understand that you don't like purchasing things for yourself. Nevertheless, as an Original it is important to be in your best shape.

Either way, you might wonder how exactly I deflected the last attack of yours. In fact, it's no secret, but I can control my emotions almost perfectly. I've honed and sharpened that skill for more than a decade because I'm a unique Original.

There are specific techniques only unique Originals can use, and they're sort of similar to abilities that can be utilized without mana, so don't be too disappointed.

Your talent is endless, never give up!!

P.S If you want to become stronger, improve your knowledge first, and go to the library in the central district. Tell the librarian that I sent you. That way, he will probably let you through without any issues.]

After reading the letter out loud for Nial, Melvin couldn't help but feel impressed.

"You made one of humanity's powerhouses acknowledge his mistakes, and reveal one of his secrets...not bad.

It looks like he likes you. That's great!"

Nial didn't really understand why Melvin was so overjoyed, and he wanted to figure out more about humanity's powerhouses and their real strength which made him open his mouth to ask numerous questions that weighed on his mind.

Yet, before he could utter another word, he heard loud footsteps from outside his room.

Just a moment later, his parents barged into his room, flinging the door open that was almost hanging on its hinges.

"Nial! Are you awake? How are you? Can you move?"

It was his mother whose voice resounded through the entire house, almost waking up Sabrina, who was in a deep slumber.

Sighing deeply, Nial couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by his mother's overprotectiveness.

Earlier, this had already been a mess, but now that he was actively exposed to dangers, where he would often be injured, his mother seemed to become even more paranoid.

It showed that she was truly concerned about him, but it burdened Nial even more because he knew that even the slightest scratch on his body would worry his mother, thus giving him more pressure to conquer dungeons unscathed or not to take bold risks.

Because he didn't want to be restricted in that way, Nial simply averted the attention from his injuries to something Melvin had said earlier.

"Yes I'm awake mom, and I'm perfectly fine. Don't worry too much. By the way, I heard that you won in the Originals' lottery. I didn't even know that we had purchased a lottery ticket!"

Lifting his body, he ignored the pain and smiled in the direction of his mother. He didn't know what he looked like, but when he sensed his mother's wildly fluctuating mana, he knew that it might now have been the best move to get up from the bed.

'I must look really bad..well, if I look as bad as I feel, it's truly the worst…' Smiling dryly, he had already tried to change the topic, which his father noticed.

Making use of it, he tried to further distract his wife by replying hastily,

"We don't have a ticket, and we won because it was one of the 'random Originals' that was chosen as a winner, which coincidentally hit us.

I plan to sell our permanent membership coupons. I just wanted to keep two for you and Sabrina, once we find a cure for her!"

Nial had planned to ask for one of the permanent membership coupons as it allowed him to visit the library, which he wanted to enter either way.

It would be great to improve his knowledge as much as possible, and due to his body's condition, it would take at least one more week before he was well-rested and could bounce back on his feet once again.

As such, he made up his mind to learn the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique by reading all kinds of other books first!

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Because it was still late at night when he had woken up, Nial was told to rest a bit longer before doing anything.

His entire body looked like he was beaten black and blue with a baseball bat, and the truth was not far from that because Master Junades hadn't held back when hitting him with the rod.

Nevertheless, Nial couldn't complain because he got valuable information from everything that had happened three days ago.

Digesting all of it was important, which was exactly what Nial did as long as he could remember everything.

First of all, he felt that his Odyssey seed was not just any ordinary invisible innate affinity holder or anything like that.

Rather, it was something that belonged to him, but at the same time, it was not his completely, not yet.

Right now, the Odyssey seed felt a lot different to Nial than it was the case before the spar with Master Junades that seemed to have changed something.

He was not sure what it was but Nial was certain that the spar was the case why the Odyssey seed felt different to him right now.

At least that was the most logical approach he had because the Odyssey seed that would otherwise lay dormant had reacted in his spar with Master Junades, giving him the necessary energy to continue fighting even though his body had already been severely injured, and not a single muscle obeyed him.

Other than being beaten up, and the incident with his Odyssey seed, Nial had also noticed that his senses were not strong enough to work to the extent he wanted them to reach if he were to be distracted.

He had expected his mana perception to be severely lacking during a fight, or when he would be injured, but not his other senses that would work properly under normal circumstances.

This was something he was bothered about, and only practice, as well as slight adjustments, would allow him to fix them with time.

Other than that, there was still the technique he had been gifted by Master Junades, the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique that he had to learn!

He wanted to read through it right off the bat, but not only was his body utterly exhausted but his mind was a mess so Nial knew that he would be unable to understand anything.

With that in mind, he shook his head and decided to sleep for a few more hours before it would be time to pay a visit to Katu's main library.

With the tickets they had obtained, it would be very helpful if they were to be able to procure more knowledge about Sabrina's disease from the vast number of books inside.

However, at the same time, Nial knew that he had to become stronger in order to help his sister because the ingredients and the process of producing the medicine were likely to be extremely expensive.

As such, for his sister and his own sake, he had to increase his knowledge about every possible topic, learn how to read properly, and understand the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique before conquering more dungeons.

In his current situation, Nial felt as if he had yet to reach the starting point of the level most Originals that awoke their origin below the age of ten are at.

This was annoying, but not something he could change, and instead of complaining, he had to improve and become stronger.

Thus, after waking up, Nial ignored the pain spreading through his body and got up from the bed.

After a quick shower, he put on some fresh clothes and prepared himself mentally before he entered his sister's room.

Right now she was still asleep but when he walked past her room, his mana perception had sensed that her fingers twitched.

As such, Nial assumed that she would wake up at any time.

Because of that, he stayed in her room for some time, and just as he was about to leave thinking that he had misinterpreted the situation, he sensed her movements with his mana before he finally heard her voice after several months once again.

"N-Nial? Is..that you? How...what happened?"

Instead of saving her breath, Sabrina gently opened her eyes and looked at her older brother in worry.

Her voice was filled with concern and she was frightened about what happened but saw him smiling lightly.

"Hey Sis, you sound much better than the last time we spoke. It has been quite some time, right?" Reaching for her head, he lightly caressed her hair.

This was only possible because he was able to sense his sister's outlines owing to her mana fluctuations.

Earlier, he had always been afraid of making things worse by accidentally toppling or pulling at something that shouldn't be touched, and in turn, injuring his sister.

With that thought in mind, he had always been extremely careful in Sabrina's room because everything was fine as long as she was alive, and he didn't destroy anything.

Feeling her brother's touch, Sabrina laughed lightly but soon began coughing.

This caused Nial's hand to stiffen until his sister had finally stopped coughing.

"How are you feeling? Your voice sounds much healthier than a few months ago, where you could barely speak, but I don't like seeing you cough!" Nial remarked, not sure what exactly he should say.

In front of his little sister, Nial was always a fool who struggled with the right words, even more after she had become sick.

In the end, he was just never sure if his words would hurt her, which was something he didn't want to happen.

As such, he was in most cases careful when he spoke with her.

"Brother, I'm fine...I feel much better since you and Melvin brought this...new medicine…I'm glad that you and Melvin are spending some time together… But..can you tell me what exactly happened to you during the last two weeks? I didn't feel your presence when I was asleep, so I was worried…"

Since she had fallen ill, and was forced to sleep for most of the time, Sabrina was able to sense the presence of others in the vicinity.

Thus, she knew who visited her and had a rough idea of how long they were there.

Because of that, Nial was unable to make an excuse. Thus, he honestly told her about everything he had gone through since he had awoken his origin.

It was a lot, and most things are probably repetitive because his sister had heard it already from Melvin or his parents, but that didn't matter.

She cherished the time she got to spend with her brother as it reminded her of the days when they would play for hours on end until that fateful day when she had fallen ill.

Thus, she didn't mind the repetition.

Yet, in the end, Nial sighed as he added in a guilty voice,

"I'm sorry for neglecting you Sabi, but I don't think I can visit you for the next few days either. I will visit the library and if possible I'll stay there, so we can finally find a cure for your disease.

However, instead of receiving a sad response, his sister seemed to be fine.

"That's okay brother...but improve your knowledge too, otherwise I will have a dumb brother once my disease is cured! You should really learn how to read after you awakened your origin!"

Smiling dryly, he knew that Sabrina was teasing him. As such, he playfully ruffled her hair a little bit more before staying with her until she drifted back to her slumber.

After that, he said that he would come back soon before he went downstairs to eat something.

As he strolled towards the kitchen, he sensed that his parents were preparing breakfast, followed by Melvin who was setting the table.

"Nial, you're finally here. Did you have a nice talk with your sister?" His mother suddenly asked, to which Nial simply nodded with a bright smile on his face.

"Everything about her seems more vibrant. She is almost unrecognizable considering how bad her health was only a few days ago. I see some color in her otherwise pale face…"

Nial was happy about how the overall situation was improving, and if everything would continue like this, they would soon become a happy family once again.

His blindness was a minor issue, which Nial had already accepted, and it was not something that would obstruct him from being happy.

With that in mind, he finished breakfast with his parents and Melvin.

After that, Nial and Melvin took a shuttle which brought them to the central district where Melvin walked ahead with fast strides.

He was eager to enter the shelter's library in order to research all kinds of unique diseases to figure out if one of them was similar to Sabrina's.

While he would do all the research, Melvin had sternly reminded Nial to improve his knowledge so that he wouldn't embarrass his sister once she was healed.

His friend was of the same opinion as his sister, which caused Nial to feel embarrassed because he had never expected them to think of him as someone who was educated, let alone knowledgeable.

He knew that he was not the smartest, but he didn't expect the people who were close to him to constantly remind him of the same.

Sighing deeply, he felt like punching his friend, but just as he was about to rush after Melvin, pain spread through his entire body, forcing him to slow down.

Meanwhile, Melvin had only stepped aside and was trying hard not to giggle.

'Soon, I'll get you, and then I will be the one who laughs!' Nial told himself as Melvin finally let out a laugh when he was further ahead.

Yet, instead of leaving him alone, Melvin stopped once in a while to start teasing him once again. This made him repeat the same sentence over and over in his mind before they finally reached the library that was a gigantic building according to his friend.

Unable to see it, Nial could only perceive the mana fluctuations of the building's materials followed by the mana dense interior that was similar to the pagoda's interior.

Through this, he understood that mana seemed to be very good at preserving something from rot, rust and decay.

That was interesting and something Nial would remember for the future.

While Melvin had quickly entered the library using his access pass, as he had shot towards the books directly, unable to contain his excitement to find out what exactly Sabrina's disease was, Nial had to search for the librarian first.

It didn't take long before he found her, standing behind a counter, reading a book which made him politely ask.historical

"Hello, I'm sorry for interrupting your work, but I would like to use this coupon, please."

Looking at Nial, while hearing about the coupon, the librarian was confused for a moment before she frowned. Her eyes flicked towards Melvin, who had shown her his access pass moments earlier, and she seemed to remember something as she replied,

"Coupon…..ah yes I heard about that. Please give me your Originals ID card, I will complete the procedure...but kiddo, why are you looking like that?"

"I just lost in a small spar, Ma'am. There is no need to be worried about me…" Nial tried to assure her though he was confused as to why she had thrown a glance at Melvin, who had already entered the library.

Because his family were merchants directly employed by the government, everyone had permanent access to most places, including the libraries of all nine shelters!

"Oh, don't misunderstand me. I was not worried, but rather curious. Either your body is extremely sturdy or your resistance to pain is enormous because a true master must have taught you a lesson...a pretty violent lesson at that…"

Astonished by her observation, Nial couldn't help but feel a little bit odd about the librarian because she had been able to analyze his body's situation within seconds and further enquired.

"Don't tell me it was Junades who did this?" She suddenly asked, recalling that Master Junades had bragged about a merchant youth who was extremely talented.

This had been a few years ago, but when she recalled it, Melvin's face resurfaced in her mind. Thus, after connecting the dots, in addition to some other information she had, such as the true origin of the 'lottery' coupons that give permanent access to the library, she was able to comprehend everything.

Hearing her question made Nial become even more confused, which made him ask.

"Huh, how do you know that?"

The only thing he heard in response was her swear a little.

"This fucking bastard...he still hasn't learned to hold back…"

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While passing by the librarian, Nial couldn't help but feel a little bit odd.

The woman's reaction had been weird when he had mentioned the coupon about the permanent membership to Katu's main library, but that was not all!

'Calling one of the shelter's strongest powerhouses 'a fucking bastard'...who the hell are these people I encounter all day long?'

Since his origin awakening, many weird things had happened, and the number of encounters with unique people seemed to be on the rise.

It was not that Nial had something against this, but that was only fine as long as the uniqueness of specific people didn't cross a certain threshold beyond which it could become extremely dangerous.

Nevertheless, now that he had entered the library, Nial's first task was to read all kinds of basic books about the appearance of dungeons, and much more information that was quite easy to digest.

This was a necessity for him to build a proper foundation of his knowledge, while simultaneously stimulating his reading capabilities.

With that in mind, he focused on reading familiar things instead of diving straight into complex stuff that would dampen his spirits.

Knowing many things was great, but it was even better if one could connect the dots, which was the reason for Nial's approach to the given situation.

After walking through the first floor of the library for a few minutes, he found a holographic log that allowed him to search for specific books before giving him the row and column numbers where they were placed.

This was quite an advantage and a tool he would have to use quite a lot in order to prevent wasting too much time while searching for a specific book.

Thus, while searching for a handful of books, he wanted to know where Melvin had disappeared because he had stored away the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique.

While reading the basic history books followed by that of dungeons, origin crystals, ability crystals, sighting of other races and much more information, he could always try to read a few sentences of the manual Master Junades had given him.

Having set the goal of finishing the entire [Control of the Ancient Monarch] book before he would enter a dungeon once again, Nial began to read attentively.

Hours passed with Nial trying to read various books with the use of his mana perception that allowed him to perceive the words written in them.

Initially, he felt as if he would fall asleep at any moment, knowing that he was not used to reading for a long time, however, after some time, Nial realized something that caused his sleepiness to be washed away in an instant.

'Is it just me, or did my brain suddenly improve?' Nial asked himself in confusion.

Trying to make sense of the situation, he furrowed his eyebrows but then dug his nose back in the book knowing that reading intently was said to be better than just hearing the information.

However, he hadn't been fully focused earlier because his mind had always averted to Melvin, who had placed the manual Nial wanted to read, in front of him at the table.

He had yet to understand that a few hours of reading wouldn't turn him into a bookworm, let alone someone who could read complex words right after learning how to read, in the first place.

Nonetheless, Nial was astonished about the pace at which he was able to learn, and comprehend most pieces of information he procured from the books he was reading.

The books were not really interesting because he had heard this information somewhere, but in the end, he had never really learned these things because blind language was not something many schools taught, and books about history written in the blind language were rarely found.

As such, so far he had learned most things from hearing about it from his surroundings, whether it was his mother, father, or other people who had spoken about things around him.historical

Nial felt that the information was easy to understand, even if some of them were not exactly interesting to him.

Thus, he found out that nobody really knew when exactly the first dungeon had appeared, which was weird because someone should have noticed it when a levitating mass of liquid manifested out of nowhere.

At least Nial felt like that, and after asking Melvin about it, he could only shrug his shoulders and respond,

"That's one of mankind's mysteries. There are quite a few of them, and the more you get to know, the scarier the situation we are in will feel to you...just try to ignore it, that's what most Originals are doing either way, or you can face the mysteries head-on. Whatever suits you best."

Melvin was rather nonchalant with his answer, and Nial sighed deeply at his friend's words before he went back to his seat.

Having spent a total of three days on reading, Nial got to know a vast amount of information which he digested much faster than he expected.

He had finally learned how to read properly with the use of his mana perception, and there were no issues in reading through the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique, which was something he achieved much earlier than he had first assumed.

However, he was dead-tired and both his brain and eyes hurt. Hence he decided to take a nap after staying awake the whole time.

The healing serum that was still coursing through his body was probably the reason for his energetic state that had allowed him to stay awake for three days without any issue.

Closing his eyes, Nial didn't even think about checking on Melvin, who had already left the library in order to do something with the shocking information he had procured.

If he would have perceived Melvin's mana fluctuations the moment his best friend had informed him that he had something to do, Nial would have definitely been worried.

Yet, Nial hadn't heard Melvin properly. Instead, he had just told his friend to go ahead.

As such, Nial didn't know that his friend was currently doing something that could lead to a disastrous situation.

Melvin was planning to return home to report Sabrina's deteriorating health to his father.

He hoped that his father would find a way to stop the illness from worsening further.

It might look like her condition had improved after she had received the medicinal serum, but that was not the case because her illness would resurface in an even worse state once they ran out of it and were unable to procure better resources for her.

This had shocked Melvin the moment he had found a clue that the description of a disease he had read in a book matched the one Sabrina had.

He couldn't be certain of this, but even the smallest possibility of this being the truth was more than enough for him to return to his father, and if necessary, beg him to help Sabrina.

That was because Melvin had found out what kind of disease Sabrina had, after starting his research in the section pertaining to books about all kinds of super rare and mysterious diseases, mankind hadn't found a cure to yet!

Melvin had hoped that he wouldn't find Sabrina's disease there, but his worst fears had come true, and not a single cure was named in the book he had read.

Even after reading the chapters about the details of the disease, Sabrina seemed to have, Melvin was unable to figure out a single way to even tend to her disease or ease it for a longer period of time.

Because of that, Melvin forgot the grudge against his family for threatening Nial's family, and he returned home as quickly as possible, leaving Nial, who had no idea what was going on, alone and sleeping on the pile of books in the library.

In the end, this was not the issue because nothing could happen to Nial, while the same could not be said about Sabrina, whose health worried him the most.

Meanwhile, Nial was ignorant to everything that happened, and it was only the librarian, who had seen the tears in Melvin's eyes.

As such, she had been curious to know the reason for Melvin's disappointment.

Hence, she approached the wooden table Melvin had been reading and where dozens of books were still spread open.

Glancing through the open pages, the librarian read through some before she stopped on a page and a frown appeared on her face,

'Myset Hoeart?'

Recalling that the young man, who had been searching for something for several days, was from the Tyr family, she remembered that the government had informed a few higher echelons that special guests were researching a new type of dungeon that had emerged inside the shelter.

Thus, given the fact that each of the books had the page of the exact same disease laid out in front of her, the librarian was able to put two and two together.

'I hope none of his friends has that disease, and if… he shouldn't be running home, not right now… the jerks are definitely resting in the Tyr family's manor...aren't they?... I hope they will be out of the mansion when this lad arrives home...otherwise, chaos will descend…'

Even if she tried to think positively, that was not possible right now, not with the dread that was filling her heart about the outcome.

This caused her mood to plummet, and she couldn't help but turn to the blind, young man, who had arrived with the descendant of the Tyr family.

Sighing deeply, she felt that she had to do something. As such, she ignored her principle of not bothering the visitors of the library and she shook Nial, who had been sleeping soundly, awake.

"Brat, you should eat something... and go home, sleep, and return later. You shouldn't sleep in the library.

Furthermore, you should go and take a shower because you stink. I don't want my books to stink of the sweat and perspiration of an overzealous brat."

By saying all of this at once, she wanted to break the ice between them, which didn't really seem to work because Nial was yawning, while rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"You should be a late-bloomer, right? I understand that you feel like you are in a hurry, but you are blind, and there are too many restrictions that hinder you from advancing. That being said, work thoroughly and advance with slow but steady steps! A proper foundation is the most important."

Yawning once again, Nial didn't understand why she was suddenly reprimanding him and only tried to answer her while stifling a yawn.

"Miss...I'm currently building up my foundation...It's not like I can improve my knowledge within a single d-..."

Nial wanted to reason with the librarian, clearly saying that he was not only a late bloomer in terms of his origin awakening but almost everything.

Yet, before he could do anything, his phone began to ring as a robotic voice resounded through the room.

Incoming call from "Arnold Birg"

When the librarian heard this, followed up by an annoying ringtone, she first wanted to shout at Nial to maintain silence in the library.

Incoming call from "Arnold Birg"

However, when she heard the name "Arnold Birg" once again, she frowned as she stared at Nial in confusion.

'You know not only the heir of the Tyr family, but also Master Junades, AND Arnold?'

Cursing out while fumbling to get hold of his phone, Nial quickly apologized to the librarian and answered the call before he began whispering.

"Hello Mister Birg, how can I help you?"

When his Original ID was created, Nial had to import his contact details into the ID too. As such, by exchanging the contacts, the blacksmith got his phone number.

However, Nial didn't expect the blacksmith to call him ever again which was the reason for him to accept the call readily despite the librarian standing next to him as he believed it had to be something serious!

"Eh...kiddo, I initially didn't want to call you, but I need to ask you for a favor..."

Nial was astonished because he had never heard the blacksmith sound so desperate, and even the librarian, who could easily hear Arnold's voice, couldn't help but feel shocked.

"Of course I will help you, I need to repay my debt for the Viper spear, either way! How can I help you?"

There was no need for Nial to be hesitant, and when the chance to make up had presented itself, he was openly offering his help.

Yet, what he heard next caused Nial to stiffen as Arnold's voice was laced with desperation and worry.

"My daughter...Shana...she is….please help her!"

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After listening to what Blacksmith Arnold Birg said, Nial couldn't help but frown, and the librarian next to him couldn't help but do the same.

'Why would Shana and other students enter a mana core restricted dungeon when it just emerged? The researchers have yet to start their research... Are these students suicidal?' She thought and Nial was similarly confused.

"There are dungeons that prevent Originals with a certain mana core rank from entering it? I didn't know!" He was astonished about the new information he had just received, and could now understand the reason behind the blacksmith's worry.

As such, he made his stance clear as he voiced his concern.

"Mister Birg, if only Originals at the 3rd Origin rank or below can enter it...why me? Wouldn't hiring mercenaries be better? You know that I have just awoken my origin...and I'm blind…"

It was not like Nial didn't want to help, but he knew that he was far from an ideal rescuer. He had no idea why students would enter an uncontrolled dungeon that showed signs of being an anomaly, to begin with.

Sighing deeply, Arnold could understand his hesitation and knew at the back of his mind that he shouldn't ask Nial to enter the dungeon in order to rescue his daughter. He was a precious child to his parents too.

Despite that, Arnold couldn't help but plead with him to rescue his daughter, who was the most precious to him.

Hence, he tried again and spoke earnestly while trying his best to convince Nial.

"Your blindness is exactly why I want you to go...a few groups of students that entered the dungeon with Shana's group were able to leave the dungeon alive!

According to them, the majority of beasts inside the dungeon are Petrification rats...hundreds of them!! If you look into their eyes for just a fraction of a second, you will feel lightly paralyzed for several seconds, and if you stare for a longer time, they will completely petrify you.

Most people below the 3rd Origin rank are extremely young, and they're not extremely strong or well trained. Meanwhile, my daughter is amongst the oldest, but her combat prowess is not that strong, and it has been 5 days since her entry in the dungeon!!

I know that I'm asking for too much, but please try searching for her…petrification rats are not strong per se, and even a common goblin should be able to defeat a handful of them as long as he closes his eyes, and counters their strongest capabilities which are their petrification eyes! Please, I will give you anything you want!"

While listening carefully, Nial realized that the task wasn't as easy as Birg made it look. Nonetheless, he also knew that he should return the blacksmith's favor because he had given him the Viper spear.

As such, he didn't think that it would be a problem to enter the dungeon as long as there were only petrification rats inside and no other beasts.

However, the biggest issue Nial perceived was the fact that Shana had been stuck in the dungeon for a total of five days.

That means, the worst outcome, which was her possible death, was not unlikely.

Because of that, Nial was not sure what he should do because it would be extremely dangerous for him too.

Nevertheless, given the fact that Shana had been extremely nice to him, while even blacksmith Arnold had treated him nicely, and given him the Viper spear that was supposed to be used by Shana's blind sister, he couldn't help but sigh.

"I don't need anything from you, Sir! But I'm currently in the shelter's library, and my friend stored the Viper spear because I was here with him. Unfortunately, he is not here anymore and went somewhere, so I'll have to look for him to retrieve the Viper Spear first, otherwise, I cannot fight."

Saying so, Nial truly realized for the first time that Melvin had simply abandoned him and gone somewhere.

Before, only his subconscious had realized that his friend was not around, and he could only scratch the back of his head, wondering where exactly he was.

'Maybe I should call him once my call with Mr. Birg is over…?' However, before he could even think of a proper solution on what he should do, the blacksmith interrupted him.

"NO! Please, don't waste any more time. I will give you every weapon and armor you want, but the sooner you start searching the earlier we will find Shana!"

Arnold Birg was not sure why he was desperately trying to convince Nial to enter the dungeon, but his entire being screamed to him that the young, blind Nial would be able to rescue his daughter, which the military's cadets below the 3rd Origin rank were unable to do!

historical

There was no reason, let alone evidence that Nial was suitable for the rescue mission.

After all, he had recently awoken his origin and wasn't trained in combat. But Arnold's gut feeling told him that Nial's blindness would turn into an asset for him in this rescue mission and ensure his daughter's safe return.

Hearing the blacksmith's desperation, Nial nodded his head as he calmly answered,

"Alright, I will come to your store. It should take me only a few minutes if I remember the path correctly. If not, I'm going to call you again, is that fine with you, Sir?"

Right now, Nial knew that he had to be calm and pacify the blacksmith or he would certainly go crazy.

In the end, he had to be considerate of the situation the Birg family was in because they had already faced an incident with Shana's blind sister overestimating her capabilities and damaging her mana core.

Given his family's situation which was oddly similar, but riddled with many more unfortunate incidents, Nial knew how the blacksmith was feeling.

Despite that, he didn't expect that Arnold Birg, the cold blacksmith, would react so weirdly and hastily ask him to rush to his store instead of looking for Melvin, who had stored away from the Viper spear.

Nevertheless, he understood the concern and panic. Thus, he turned towards the librarian, who had heard everything and simply asked,

"I'm sorry, but can I leave the books here? An accident seems to have occurred, and I need to go now…"

In the end, even if the librarian had told him to return the books later at his free time, he would have turned them in as soon as he was done, but given the current situation, Nial wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

His body was still not perfectly healed, but he was not restricted in any way, and the only issue was the pain in his sore muscles he felt while moving around.

However, that was not really problematic given that everything else was perfectly fine.

The healing serum was still effective even after six days, and as long as he was not injured in any way, one more day's dose would have been enough to let the pain he felt recede further before it would have completely disappeared.

"You can go brat, but be careful. Dungeons with an anomaly can have many unforeseen dangers, and if you are not sure that you can survive, either don't go, or flee the moment you sense that anything is off.

If you have any issues in the future, just visit the library, and ask for Mara Lyx, that's my name!"

Nial was not sure why exactly the librarian seemed so friendly all of a sudden, but he had no reason to complain. After all, it was good to get to know more people, even more so if they were powerful.

"Thank you for your concern. My name is Nial Orin, I'll come back soon! See you!"

Bidding her farewell, Nial disappeared from her sight and rushed towards the blacksmith's store, who was pacing through his shop, waiting for Nial impatiently.

Today's decision to enter the anomalous dungeon would change Nial's entire life.

He was about to enter a new chapter of his life, a chapter that was filled with pain, betrayal, and even more so loneliness due to the fateful incidents that were waiting to unfold.

The same was just happening to Melvin, who would remember this day as the day on which he made both the best and worst decisions of his life because his best friend would have to suffer due to the choices he made.

While Nial had arrived in front of the blacksmith's store, Melvin had already arrived home.

Storming inside his father's office, he didn't see the two robed men who were sitting on the couch.

Instead, Melvin's eyes were solely focused on his father as he quickly blurted out.

"Father, I need your help, please!!" His voice was laced with desperation and panic was clearly visible on his face, making it look like he was on the verge of losing it.

He was flustered, and that was something Serl Tyr hadn't seen his son be, for a very long time, long enough to clearly show that something serious must have happened.

As such, he even forgot to reprimand his son for not coming home for an entire week, which had never happened before.

Serl, even ignored his prestigious guests, as he approached his son with fast strides, before holding him by the shoulders to give him some support as he asked,

"What's wrong? Is everything okay with you?"

Hearing his father's concerned voice, Melvin seemed to regain his senses, and his worry about Sabrina resurfaced once again.

Thus, he quickly explained her situation to his father, who just nodded his head, recalling everything about Sabrina that Melvin had told long ago, and the fact that she was bedridden.

Yet, when Melvin said something in particular, not only Serl was astonished, but even the two guests who had been patiently watching his spontaneous outburst, couldn't help but lift their heads as they stared at Melvin with interest and a glint of excitement in their eyes.

"I think Sabrina has the Myset Hoeart disease… can you help her...somehow, please!!"

Melvin was desperately pleading with his father because not a single book he had read so far gave even the slightest hint of a solution about a possible cure to Sabrina's disease.

As such, Melvin was sure that his father was his last resort to know if they were approaching a dead end, or if there was a way out of the misery that he couldn't find.

However, upon hearing Melvin's words, Serl Tyr's breath hitched in his throat and his eyes subconsciously glanced over to the robed men.

'This foolish, reckless kid!!!' He could only think in disappointment because he had heard about someone being diagnosed with the Myset Hoeart disease, but that had had a semi optimistic ending...only because of the government's interference.

As such, he couldn't help but feel concerned, the moment he saw that the robed men's interest seemed to have been piqued.

One of the men was unable to remain quiet anymore when he heard about Sabrina's disease as he mumbled to his colleague.

"Myset Hoeart...isn't that the first stage to awaken a Mana heart…."

While the said man was astonished about the words the Tyr family's heir had uttered and doubted him, his colleague just nodded his head before he took out a faint sky blue glowing crystal.

"Let's take a look at her, maybe we didn't waste our time, coming here after all…"

When the talkative man heard his colleague speaking, he smiled brightly as he remarked.

"Your ability is truly a treasure! To find a potential treasure like someone with a Mana heart awakening...in Katu at that, who would have thought that? Shall...we make use of that?"

Yet, instead of receiving a reassuring answer, the silent man just replied as he got up from his seat.

"Who knows if it's already too late? She might be on the verge of death!"

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At first, Melvin was unable to hear, let alone see the robed men because he was focused on his father, who was staring weirdly at him, trying to indicate something by gesturing towards the side.

There seemed to be something wrong, which he had missed out on earlier. Only after he had calmed down from his first desperate attempts to make his father help Sabrina, who was very important to him, did he look towards his left side.

It was only then that he saw the robed men, who were quietly speaking with each other, and turned to look at Melvin once they had come to a consensus.

Both of them looked at Melvin and their eyes seemed to be able to stare into the depths of his soul, and he instinctively took a step back.

Yet, just a moment later one of the two robed men said in a loud, and dominant voice that left no room for interpretation.

"Where is this friend of yours, who you presume to have the Myset Hoeart disease? Bring us to her!"

Mana amplified his voice, and there was something else in it that caused Melvin to feel as if his entire body was petrified.

He was unable to move, and he felt short of breath as if his lungs were slowly being sealed. It was just a moment later that he felt as if his senses were slowly being sealed too as his sight began to blur.

But all of this was less shocking than what he was witnessing at the moment. His father was doing something he had never seen- Serl Tyr, his mighty father, was acting submissive.

"Please, my esteemed guests, don't scare my son. I have pampered him too much. He will lead you to the girl you are searching for in a minute."

Bowing to the robed men, Serl Tyr tried to appease them and avoid problems before they could even occur.

Afterward, he turned towards Melvin, who was finally able to breathe once again. He was holding his neck with wide eyes only to look towards his father in shock.

As he took deep breaths, he stared at his father in confusion, unsure of what was going on, which made his father sigh deeply as he mumbled.

"I'm sorry Melvin...but you shouldn't have stormed inside my office, let alone blurting things out without assessing if anyone can listen to you… This mistake is on you...you should start praying for the best outcome…and even that is not something I would wish for."

Melvin was not able to understand a word his father said, even less who the hell the robed men were to be able to do order around him and his father, who was just bowing, apologizing, and trying to prevent the situation from escalating, without actively doing anything.

He stared at the robed men for a moment, and it was only when they began to move, that he snapped out of his thoughts.

Even though they were approaching him, their feet made no noise that astonished him.

He could only look straight into the eyes of the silent-robed man that stared straight passed him, giving Melvin the chills as he saw something that was somewhat familiar, yet completely different from Nial's eyes.

'His eyes...are without any life...or are they?'

While Melvin was forced to lead the robed men towards the Orin family's house and was unable to do anything against it because he feared that they would hurt his family, he could only desperately pray that they wouldn't do anything bad to Sabrina, let alone her parents, or Nial.

Thinking about Nial, he hoped that he was not home, because he knew that his friend would never accept if something were to happen to Sabrina, but in fact, Melvin was fully aware that he wouldn't accept it either.

Thus, he began to think of a solution to find a way out of the chaotic situation he had created, which made him curse himself countless times.

However, there was nothing he could do, and his entire body tensed the moment he knocked on the Orin family's door, and Maline opened it.

Tears trickled down his cheeks as he mumbled to himself.

"I'm such a brainless idiot…"

While he was lamenting himself, it only took one look at the robed men behind him for Melvin to realize that the robed men were interested in Sabrina, and not in terms of experimenting with or helping her.

Though he knew they had some secret agenda, he couldn't comprehend it even with his profound knowledge that seemed to be lacking more than he had expected.

As such, rather than being apologetic to Sabrina or anyone else, Melvin felt that the person, who would suffer the most owing to his actions, would be Nial!

That was just his gut feeling, but if that was correct, nothing would happen to Nial's parents and his sister. On the contrary, they were to be blessed by the mistake Melvin had done, while Melvin would bear the misfortune, betrayals, and horrible encounters with people and beings that could tear him apart with a snap of their fingers.

However, that was everyone's undisclosed fate, and Melvin knew that he was just trying to make himself feel better after mindlessly barging into his father's office and blurting out all kinds of things, without taking a single glance through the office.

If his gut feeling was telling the truth, or if it was just wishful thinking, only the future could tell, and Melvin was unsure whether to wish his gut feeling was true or not.

In either case, somebody he cared for would suffer, be it Nial, or the rest of his family.

Because of that, tears continued to trickle down his cheeks as the robed man passed by Melvin the moment the blind man replied,

"I can sense her. She is upstairs. Talk to the parents, I'll take a look!"

The talkative robed man nodded his head without saying anything in response.

Instead, he took a unique-looking emblem out of his spatial ring that had the government's insignia on it.

Seeing the emblem, Maline was confused, but seeing the shock in the eyes of the crying Melvin, it had to be something huge.

If she knew what Melvin was just thinking, she wouldn't be as calm as she was right now.

'Is that the Emblem of the Eclipse A-... No, that would make no sense, why would they be here… Or are they..?'

As realization struck Melvin, he instinctively turned his head towards his father, who had accompanied the small group with a neutral expression.

Serl Tyr was trying hard to maintain a poker face as he saw that his son was slowly comprehending the severity of his seemingly small mistake.

Entering the house after Maline asked them to make themselves comfortable, the blind man ignored her and Miles, who had just entered the house through the backyard. He simply found his way towards the stairs that led to the second floor and climbed up the stairs.

His mana fluctuations enveloped the entire house, preventing anyone from doing anything against the blind man, even if Miles wanted to obstruct the blind man.

Having conquered the permanent slime dungeon, he was still fully armed, and ready to fight with his life on the line if it was necessary to protect his daughter.

Yet, a single move towards the blind man was enough to make the mana around him react. It was almost as if an invisible wall had suddenly erected every single time Miles attempted to approach the blind man, or the stairs he was slowly ascending.

At that moment, he roared out and brandished the longsword at the invisible wall of compressed mana, only for it to shatter into dozens of pieces upon impact.

This caused Miles' eyes to widen just before the mana around him began to move, chaining him up. His legs and arms were suddenly tightly enveloped by mana, and a moment later Miles slumped on the ground, as no sound escaped his mouth that had been sealed.

It was just a second later that the talkative robed man stood in front of him, sighing deeply.

"Why are you guys always so reckless? It's not like you could approach him, even if he were to be asleep. Just keep quiet, and let us do our work!"

Previously, the talkative man's voice had sounded joyous without a trace of annoyance or frustration.

However, right now, he was staring down at Miles in anger, barely holding back from letting the situation turn more chaotic than it already was.

"Pray that your daughter has the Myset Hoeart, otherwise, you will see hell from up close!"

He said this in a low voice that was barely loud enough for Miles to hear before he turned around, ignoring the shivering man as he turned his attention to Maline.

"Please, Mrs. Orin, you must be confused. Sit down, and let me explain the situation to you!"

As if on cue, Maline nodded her head and walked towards the living room.

She didn't even realize that she had seated herself on the couch, listening to what was going on in a daze.

Averting her attention from the talkative man, who was mumbling something about a blessing in disguise, a great opportunity, and healing Sabrine, Maline looked at Melvin in confusion.

Yet, seeing that he was as confused as her about everything that was just happening, he could only stand stiffly.

It looked like he was going to remember this day as the day he had received one shock after another when he saw that the blind man had returned with Sabrina's body that was levitating right next to him, following the blind man's steps.

This caused Maline's eyes to widen and she was about to jump up and rush to her daughter, only to hear the talkative man's voice issuing a seemingly simple command, "Stay seated!"

After that, she was barely able to move her head, but that was already everything.

Looking at her daughter, Maline was not sure how to feel as conflicting emotions surged up within her.

On one hand, the talkative man was saying something about healing her, but the entire situation made her doubt their true intentions!

Thus, she wanted to say something, and do something in order to help her daughter, however, in the end, she was powerless, just like her husband.historical

Unable to move, she could only listen to the discussion of the two robed men that lasted for less than a minute.

"She is already in the late stage, and about to die due to mana scarcity. It looks like her advance to the second stage was postponed due to the medicine they used, but with the mana scarcity around Katu, this saved her from dying." The blind man said nonchalantly.

"So..she really is the second one of her kind…and we found her? That's great. Fortunately, we took this boring mission. You have truly great insights."

The talkative man's voice sounded overjoyed, almost as if he had just found a treasure, and while looking at Sabrina, his eyes were gleaming, indicating that he was truly thinking that the little girl was an unpolished diamond!

"Yes, she has the Myset Hoeart, we'll leave immediately. Returning to Liondra is a must, otherwise, she won't be able to absorb enough mana…if that's not already too late!"

"What will we do about them?" The talkative suddenly man enquired, pointing at Maline and Miles before moving his finger towards Melvin and his father, Serl Tyr, and added, "Should we kill them?"

At that moment, the robed man's voice turned ice-cold, and not a single trace of mercy could be heard in his voice. It made their faces drain of all color as Sabrina's parents and the father-son pair of the Tyr family stiffened while staring at the robed men in shock.

Even Serl Tyr was not sure what would happen, knowing that these two men in front of them were allowed to do everything as long as it was deemed necessary by them.

As such, goosebumps spread over his entire body, only for the blind man to say.

"Don't go overboard, Kril. If we kill her parents, what do you think will happen? She will obviously start hating us. That's unnecessary. Just take them with us."

He then turned his attention to the father-son duo and continued, "As for the Tyr family, they should know what happens if someone dares to go against us, you recall the Desyx family, right?"

Throwing a warning at them, the talkative man smiled lightly as if it was a good memory, only to see a glint of murderous intent in his eyes that quickly vanished as he regained his senses.

"Alright, we'll take the parents with us, and the Tyr family shall keep their mouth shut, otherwise, I will visit you at night, and blood will be spilled…starting with the youngest member of your family!"

Shivering at his words, Melvin and Serl remained to keep silent, only for Maline to wail in pain as she squealed out two words.

"My son…!"

Halting in his tracks, the blind man turned to face Maline, who had forced herself to speak, worrying about what would happen to Nial, if they were to disappear suddenly.

Having visualized the picture of the family of four, the blind man knew that the Orin family's son was blind, and thus, faced the same crippling disability as himself.

Yet, instead of showing any mercy, his entire body seemed to release the intent to kill as he added in a cold voice,

"You can also decide to stay here, but then, your son will find nothing but a lifeless corpse!"

After hurling another threat at the already scared family, the blind man took out the same crystal he had been holding earlier when they were still in the Tyr family's mansion.

He then inserted some mana into the crystal, post which the holographic image of a middle-aged woman appeared.

"What is it now, Old Dreg?" the middle-aged woman asked, annoyed by the sudden call, only to see the surrounding of the place the blind man was in.

Yet, she was not even astonished, which only changed when Old Dreg, the blind man, said a few words.

"We found someone with the Myset Hoeart. We'll come back to Liondra!"

Saying so, he hung up, before turning to Miles and Maline, who had been freed of their shackles, and ordered them.

"Now, please pack your stuff and follow me, or we will be forced to kill everyone in this room!"

Turning to the Tyrs he just told them to leave, which Serl did, only to notice that Melvin was still frozen in place.

Tightly grasping his son's arm, he dragged Melvin with him, who could only mumble.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…I didn't know…" Maline heard this, just before she moved away from the couch.

Yet, instead of being enraged, or feeling betrayed, she forced herself to smile as she asked him a favor.

"I know you just wanted to do the best…please take care of Nial…"

After that, Melvin was forced outside the room, and it was only a few minutes later that everything was over…

Meanwhile, Nial was oblivious to anything that had just happened, and that he would find an empty home, whose only living beings were the slimes inside the dungeon in the backyard!

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Oblivious to the devastating result of Melvin's reckless mistake, Nial had entered blacksmith Arnold's store, who was eagerly waiting for him.

Before he could announce his arrival, a draft of wind brushed into his face as he heard the blacksmith's desperate voice right in front of him.

"Ì'm glad that you were able to come directly, Nial. Sorry for the inconvenience, but you are the only one I can rely on, I can feel it!"

Not sure whether the blacksmith was currently confused and thus misinterpreting his strength, Nial only gave him a hesitant smile.

He was unable to tell if the blacksmith was making him feel more powerful than he truly was, or if he was playing at something else.

However, what he was able to figure out was the fact that blacksmith Arnorld Birg was genuinely under the impression that he would be able to rescue his daughter.

Because of that, Nial nodded his head without saying anything. He knew that the anomalistic dungeon would be somewhat hard to conquer, but from what he had understood, the military had sent out their newest batch of cadets to be trained too.

It might be their youngest cadets' first mission, but it was better for them to be able to enter an unknown dungeon with others than alone.

With that in mind, he was reassured that nothing bad would happen and grew confident that he would be able to protect himself if he were to receive good equipment.

Thus, instead of beating around the bush, Nial simply stated his demands.

"If possible, I need a weapon that has similar, or at least, the exact same capabilities as the Viper spear. I have only fought with the Viper spear and my weapon proficiency is bad, to put it simply.

Other than that, a leather armor for my entire body, as well as serums for healing, replenishing stamina, antidotes, and the best disinfection serums would be great.

If possible, I would like to have ropes, preservable dishes, water, bandages, flash grenades, and a few more items.

To store everything and carry it around easily, I'll need a spatial ring too, please!"

Somehow, Nial's voice was extremely calm and his behavior composed, which was the exact opposite to the blacksmith's behavior, who was frazzled and anxious.

Thus, he found it oddly reassuring to hear the young blind man listing down more than 20 items he required to enter the dungeon.

Under normal circumstances, it was a little bit over the top, but the current situation was anything but normal.

As such, the blacksmith could only nod his head as he hastily replied,

"Of course, please choose any kind of weapon you need, while I will collect everything else!"historical

Nial nodded his head, and once he perceived that the blacksmith had left, he began to sweat profusely.

Wiping off the sweat, Nial was glad that his voice didn't crack when he nonchalantly demanded to receive items that were dozens of times more expensive than their house, including the permanent dungeon in their backyard.

However, considering that he had to risk entering an unknown, newly emerged dungeon just to save the blacksmith's daughter, it was more than feasible to ask for items that he could temporarily borrow.

He would simply hand over everything once he returned, while hopefully bringing back Shana and repaying the favor in kind.

The Viper spear was extremely valuable, and it had been gifted, if one excluded the payment of a meager amount of slightly more than 10,000$, which was nothing in comparison to the Myth weapon's true value.

With that in mind, Nial had decided to help and to demand nothing from the blacksmith in return for helping him save the resources that were necessary.

It might be dangerous to enter the dungeon, but Nial could clearly understand how one would feel at the prospect of a loved one being in danger while you could do nothing but just pray and wait helplessly for their safe return.

It would be more frightening if an accident with another family member had already happened.

Thus, Nial didn't even think of asking anything that could lead to the blacksmith's worry intensifying, except for the known information about the unknown dungeon.

There was not much to figure out because the information about the dungeon was shallow, but Nial still read the file he had received using his mana perception.

Meanwhile, the blacksmith returned with a spatial ring that had everything he had asked for stored inside.

The only items that were missing were the leather armor and a weapon.

Fortunately, searching for a suitable weapon didn't take long because there was a proper working prototype of the Viper spear which Nial had quickly found in the shop.

As for the leather armor, he also got knee protectors and seemingly ordinary boots with the sole difference of having a pointy, steel cap with which he could kick beasts without sustaining any injury himself.

Once everything was done, the blacksmith led him towards the dungeon that was in one of the outermost districts inside the Katu shelter.

After he was fully prepared, Nial grew confident in himself which made him feel a little bit weird. However, after thinking about it, he sensed that he had become relatively calm ever since the Odyssey seed and his origin had awoken.

Thus, he could calmly get out of the shuttle, and approach the dungeon portal that radiated weird transmuted mana currents of two repulsive energies.

Nial felt odd after sensing the mana currents that were transmuted by something that felt like endless darkness, and a trace of light that made him visualize a ray of hope at the end of a dark tunnel.

Somehow, this visualization struck Nial much deeper than it should, and it was at that moment that a premonition swept through his entire being, emerging from the depths of his conscience.

'Why...does it feel like I was just deprived of something extremely precious…and as if someone betrayed me?' He mumbled to himself in confusion.

How could Nial know that his best friend had unintentionally betrayed him by making a small, avoidable mistake, while his entire family had been snatched away from him with no clues of their whereabouts?

In the end, after getting out of the shuttle, Nial was able to sense the energy radiating from the mysterious rift.

At the same time, there were dozens of people standing around the portal, facing it, with another group of smaller figures standing around a woman whose outlines and mana fluctuations were oddly familiar.

"Isn't that…?" He suddenly mumbled, recalling the woman from the military academy, who had killed the Sekyr Sound Centipede inside the Melind dungeon.

'It really is her,' he thought after focusing his mana fluctuations on her the moment they passed by the barriers that had been set up to allow entry to a select few.

The dungeon was not only restricted according to one's mana core size, but it also radiated two repulsive transmuted mana currents.

Some dungeons were known for having a specific element and an easy way of identifying them was their signature trait of having transmuted mana found within the dungeon. It was similar to a signature, and apparently, the color of gates would sometimes change too.

Thus, dungeons that were in or near a volcano would naturally release fire transmuted mana.

Yet, after sensing the darkness mana that had faint traces of a light affinity within them, Nial couldn't help but feel odd because there had never been a dungeon with two elements.

However, there was someone who felt even weirder about the entire situation. It was, in fact, Nina Melion, who had noticed blacksmith Arnold, the moment he passed the barrier, followed by the young man she recalled from the Melind dungeon.

'What is he doing here? How do they know each other?... Did Mr. Birg…no he wouldn't do that, right? This kid has just awoken his origin…or would he?' Dozens of questions flashed through Nina's mind, but after a moment of confusion, she decided to mind her own business.

Some cadets she had trained had received their first mission and she wanted to give them as much information and tips before they would enter the dungeon to rescue the missing students that had mindlessly barged into the dungeon just because they thought that they would claim other worldly treasures inside it.

Some students that had emerged from the dungeon had said that they were told to enter the dungeon because treasures awaited them, others were simply challenged to enter and prove themselves, and some were even saying that their teachers had always told them to enter dungeons and gain experience.

Whether the last, small number of students were correct or simply making up stuff to excuse their misbehavior was still debatable, but that didn't matter because the lives of the Originals were the most important.

However that was only the opinion of the government, but Nina had a different opinion because she thought that her cadets of hers had to survive first in order to rescue others.

Thus, she told them to stay alive and protect themselves before others.

As such, she relayed the information she had received from her superior, only to see that blacksmith Arnold was approaching her.

Bowing lightly to the renowned blacksmith, Nina could see the worry in his expression, as he asked her.

"Are you Nina Melion?"

Nodding her head, she wanted to ask what he wanted, yet, before she could do so, Arnold Birg continued to speak, not wasting any time.

"I have received permission from General Tergan to let one Original enter the dungeon with your cadets!"

Hearing what the blacksmith said, Nina was momentarily dumbfounded, and her eyes automatically flicked to Nial, who simply listened to the blacksmith's words with a steadfast expression.

In the end, the government owned the dungeon owing to it being an anomaly which was something ordinary Originals couldn't control.

Thus, the first conquest was set up by the government and nobody other than the highest echelons, military and specific organizations that belonged to the government would be allowed to enter it right now.

With that in mind, blacksmith Arnold used his connections to allow Nial to enter the dungeon.

Yet, when Nina heard this she didn't believe her ears, because General Tergan was known for being conservative, strict, and for having an unbending will.

However, that was not all because she had seen Nial's combat prowess merely a week ago, which meant that she believed he was not suitable for the mission.

Thus, she wanted to object, but before she could do so, she received a voice message from General Tergan, which caused her to frown.

After listening to it, her frown deepened, and she swore under her breath, blaming the bad timing.

"Alright, but if he wants to enter the dungeon with my cadets, he shouldn't be a burden on my group! If he grows too weak, they will abandon him because they have better things to do than babysitting someone!"

Nial was not offended despite her harsh words, because they were not directly meant to insult him. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but retort with a faint grin on his lips.

"Don't worry Miss, I have become stronger since last week!"

This simple comment caused blacksmith Arnold to turn towards Nial as he mumbled.

"Do you know her? Are you guys acquaintances?"

In the end, they were not acquaintances, and more like strangers, but that was not something the already worried blacksmith had to know, thus he came up with something on the spot.

Shrugging his shoulder, Nial just answered,

"You could say so, one could say we helped each other…but that is probably a little bit far-fetched!"

Upon hearing his answer, Nina recalled that she had given Nial the [Shockwave Barrage] ability.

Thus, her eyes gleamed for a moment as she asked him curiously.

"Did you bind the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal to your mana core? If so, you might be useful!"

Somehow, Nial couldn't help but feel hurt by her comment, but instead of showing his discontent, he just shook his head and replied,

"We sold it, but may we proceed further, or do we have to wait for something. I would prefer rescuing the students as long as they're alive!"

Hearing Nial saying this, Nina couldn't help but raise her eyebrow, thinking that he had changed a little bit.

The change was in a good way, which made her feel a little bit more at ease, thinking that Nial might not turn into burden for her cadets.

Yet, the cadets that were several years younger than Nial couldn't help but stare at him with discontent.

However, instead of disapproving openly, they remained quiet, preventing themselves from harassing Nial in front of their teacher, which would in return earn them a lecture from her because they seemed to know each other.

Despite that though, the cadets didn't even think of conquering the dungeon with Nial owing to his blindness and evidently weak mana fluctuations.

Fortunately, this was not something he wanted to do, to begin with.

Nial might be glad that others would enter the dungeon, but so far, he had only relied on his family and Melvin when it came to saving his life.

As such, he felt more comfortable conquering the dungeon by himself.

How could Nial know that everyone he trusted his life on had either disappeared from his sight or would be the reason for the pain and agony he would have to go through in the future?

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While standing next to the cadets, Nial felt like a giant, which caused him to subconsciously sigh.

There was no standard age at which one had to awaken their Origin. As such, there were toddlers that became Originals only a few months after being born as well as old people whose prime-age had already passed in waiting for their awakening.

Nevertheless, the vast majority would awaken their origin between the age of 8 to 10 years.

Thus, the cadets next to him were around 12 years old at the 3rd Origin stage.

With that in mind, Nial knew that they would act rather childish, even if they had been trained for a few years already.historical

Military school was a place for families that were not poor, but also not wealthy enough to enter one of the influential schools that had connections everywhere around the nine shelters.

Nevertheless, owing to the fact that the military belonged to the government, it was always in need of more soldiers to clear as many dungeons as possible.

Traumatic incidents such as deaths or permanent disablement of soldiers who would enter such dungeons were fairly common.

Hence, it would allow enrollment of a large number of students as long as they showed some inclination to fight and train hard.

Because of that, military school might only be considered above average, but if one worked hard enough, it should be possible to be transferred to one of the greater military schools in the other shelters, or even to a prestigious university with the help of recommendation letters.

This was something most average families wished for their children, but Nial had already figured out that most younger Originals were too full of themselves.

At least that was the case if the other students of the military school were to be as idiotic as the small group of students around him.

He didn't say anything but he felt their angered gazes on him which made no sense.

Nial hadn't done anything to them so they shouldn't have any bias or prejudice against him.

That was under the assumption that they didn't label him a weakling already for being blind and a late bloomer!

However, in the end, it didn't really matter because he would go his own way once they would enter the dungeon.

Fortunately, this didn't take too long, and Nial used the time in which they had to wait to receive the government worker's approval to scan the spatial ring that blacksmith Arnold had given him.

He had never really liked wearing any accessories, so he had half-expected the ring to be uncomfortable to wear, but luckily that was not the case.

It was rather comfortable and after inserting some of his mana into it, he felt as if an entire dimension had opened up and expanded in his mind, allowing him to visualize the various items stored inside the spatial ring, followed by an even larger empty space.

'So that is how a spatial ring looks from the inside!' He thought with a faint smile on his face before he began to investigate the items inside the spatial ring.

At that moment, the soldiers requested blacksmith Arnold to leave which he reluctantly did.

Meanwhile, Nial didn't even notice anything. He was simply staring at the contents of the ring in fascination because none of them were of a low rank and grade.

The lowest ranked item he found were Mid rank Common quality vials because they were the most potent serums Nial was able to drink without damaging his body.

Additionally, there were various types of flash grenades, at least a hundred liters of water, preservable food for an entire month, and much more.

Other than that, the Fang spear, which was the prototype of the Viper spear, was also stored inside the spatial ring.

In fact, the Fang spear was exactly the same as the Viper spear, in terms of looks and ability to release and extract its blades.

The only thing it was lacking was the poison crystal but it was not much of a jarring difference for now.

He was not able to use the crystal either way. As such, the Fang spear was as good as the Viper spear, even if Nial felt that his connection was not as good with the Fang spear as it had been the case with the Viper spear.

However, that was negligible and nothing he would fuss about.

Satisfied with the inspection, Nial turned his attention to the government worker, whom he had just perceived walking towards them.

"Because this is the first mission of the Junior military unit #243, survival will be the highest priority, followed by gathering of information, and the students' rescue! The laws of the government and military won't change just because you will enter the dungeon, so I expect everyone to behave properly!

I hope I have expressed myself clearly enough and you all would behave, otherwise, we might encounter each other again, but not in a dungeon, or anywhere near it, but in the court! Last but not the least, do not look into the eyes of the petrification rats as instructed earlier.

Now, go!"

While the loud, yet high-pitched voices of the cadets shouting, "Yes, Sir '' resounded in Nial's ear, he couldn't help but turn towards the government worker.

He didn't feel that the middle-aged man was friendly and approachable enough for him to ask a doubt.. Nevertheless, Nial was confused by his words.

'Is the order really like that? Information before rescue?'

However, even if that was the case, his priorities were different than the military's, to begin with.

With that in mind, he followed the kids that ignored him as they went through the dungeon portal without a sliver of hesitation.

He was amazed by their confidence but apart from that, there wasn't anything else that he found interesting about the bunch of kids so he simply stepped through the portal with them.

Just before entering the dungeon, he had taken the Fang spear out of his spatial ring, followed by a belt with a few vials that he strapped across his waist to make use of in emergencies.

After stepping inside the dungeon portal, he felt the two intertwining energies of the dungeon enveloping him tightly, and it did not take long before he emerged on the other side of the dungeon portal.

However, during the short moment in which he was transported to the designated position, Nial couldn't help but feel odd.

Somehow, he felt as if the darkness and light energy that enveloped him were something he was familiar with.

Yet, it was much weaker than he thought it should be, and just as he stressed his memory to recall something about the darkness energy, his mind went blank.

He remained in that state just for a second but that was more than enough to give him the chills as it felt like he should definitely know what exactly the darkness energy truly was.

Unfortunately, he couldn't remember where exactly had he heard of the darkness transmuted before, or where he had sensed something that felt similar to it which bothered him, even more so as he heard the young cadets' annoying voice.

"It's so cold here…why did we have to come to this God-forsaken place? It's muddy and it doesn't look warm inside the cave either… I should have remained in school..."

Following that comment, Nial frowned, only for his frown to deepen as one of the young cadet's friends nodded in approval while lamenting further.

"Why did these stupid students have to enter the two-element dungeon…they're really fools, and Ms. Melion even says that some of the students that are still missing are older than us..hahahha!"

Nial realized that the young cadets didn't take the dungeon seriously. As such, he ignored their rant and diverted his attention to trying to recall where exactly he had felt the darkness transmuted mana before.

However, even after a few minutes had passed, he had no idea, which was different for the light affinity.

It was not the same as he recalled, but how could he forget the divine energy of the Goddess who had awoken his Odyssey seed as well as his origin?

The divine energy had been much more profound, but he could clearly feel a trace of holy energy within the minuscule amount of light energy that was intertwined in the seemingly endless darkness transmuted mana!

As such, he was intrigued by the dungeon.

Nevertheless, he didn't let his excitement make him forget his mission and the fact that he had entered the two-element dungeon in order to rescue Shana.

That was his only mission, and given the fact that the petrification rats were unlikely to be around the open field they had entered, they must be inhabiting the cave, of which the young cadets had spoken about earlier.

Nial might not be able to see anything, and even his mana perception didn't allow him to perceive anything beyond the range of ten meters, but that was no problem because he could hear, sense and smell his surroundings.

As such, he knew that they were in the plains that had turned into a muddy and slightly marshy field owing to the rain.

Other than that, he heard the rustling of trees from behind and next to him.

The almost inaudible sound of the faint gust of wind blowing through the leaves came to him from far away, but he was able to hear it.

Given the information provided by the young cadets, he could also pick up the faint scent of mold and ammonia that became intenser the closer he approached the cave.

In the end, he simply followed the young cadets that approached the cavern entrance without any hesitation as if it was just an ordinary school trip.

They were complaining about their situation and gossiping with each other, but by focusing on the young cadets, Nial noticed something interesting.

'They're just nervous?' Given the fact that it was their first mission, that should be the case.

However, because all of them had put on a rather brave and nonchalant expression, Nial had simply disregarded this possibility.

Despite that, the closer they came to the cave, the quieter they became, and Nial was able to clearly perceive their mana fluctuations that were stiffening at every single noise that came from the interior of the cave.

There were many noises he could hear, and after sensing their mana, which exposed how they actually felt, Nial couldn't help but feel that the kids were simply being childish and might not be as bad as he had thought before.

They might be ignoring him, but that was possible because they had always been trained to work with their small team.

Other than that, trusting a stranger was something almost everyone was taught not to do.

As such, he was not only a blind person at the 1st Origin rank to them but also an unknown variable that could most probably turn into unnecessary baggage.

With that in mind, they had unanimously decided to simply ignore Nial as their teacher had told them that it was fine to do so.

Because of that, Nial followed them but kept a certain distance from them, knowing that he shouldn't throw a fit right now.

In the end, he wasn't too keen on being a part of their group either, but he had to get to know more information about the dungeon too, and given the fact that not a single beast had shown up until now, something was definitely wrong!

Yet, just as he thought about the scarcity of beasts, numerous squeals resounded through the walls of the cave, reaching the cavern entrance in no time, only for a thunderous roar to follow suit, alarming Nial and the young cadets.

'And…that is where I'm supposed to go down?''

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When the echo of the thunderous roar had finally subsided, Nial and the cadets were finally able to breathe properly once again.

Neither of them were aware of the fact that their breaths had caught in their throat and looked at each other in fear.

Meanwhile, Nial continued to release his mana currents, and felt oddly calm after the short moment of shock was over.

'There are definitely beasts that are stronger than petrification rats in this dungeon….' He thought, but that was quite obvious.

In the end, there had to be at least one boss, and there could also be rare bosses and other types of beasts than the petrification rat lurking in the dark.

As such, the dangers of the dungeon were not surprising to him.

Nevertheless, the thunderous roar was not even amplified by mana or initiated by the utilization of an ability, yet, it shook him and the cadets to the core.

This meant that they were innately weaker than the beast that had just let out a booming roar.

Because of that, Nial knew that he had to be careful of the dangers inside the cave.

However, instead of letting himself be affected by his surroundings or the cadets' nervousness that had intensified after they realized that the dungeon was more dangerous than they had previously predicted, Nial used his senses and mana perception to get to know the surrounding area.

Thus, without wasting any more time, he turned around and left the cavern entrance, ignoring the confused gazes of the cadets who were staring at him.

"Looks like he is too afraid to follow us inside the cave…and here I thought that I might have underestimated him..."

One of the cadets said in a mocking tone, only for one of the other cadets to nod approvingly while replying,

"Our prediction was correct, as always! Are you guys brave enough to enter the cave with me or will all of you cower in fear just like this blind little fawn?!"

Listening to the oldest of them, the other cadets felt reassured as they saw how brave the strongest of them was.

Little did they know that they were forcing each other to be encouraged, and not lose their morale, fight, and overcome the hindrances that would obstruct their paths towards becoming strong soldiers.

Since they were young, their parents and teachers had taught them that determination, fearlessness, bravery, and ambition were the strongest characteristics higher authorities of the military would seek in potential candidates after innate talent, which was the most important.

However, once their new teacher, Nina Melion, had been appointed, she taught them many new things that were different compared to what the cadets of other military units had been taught.

This had confused them, and even their parents after they had gotten wind of it, extremely.

Yet, after asking their new teacher why exactly she felt that knowledge, survival skill, and everything else that had remotely to do with surviving longer was necessary for their kids, she had not provided them with the required explanation.

Instead, she told them that their first mission would allow them to clearly understand everything she was teaching them as long as they paid attention to everything she taught them beforehand.

Unfortunately, Nina seemed to have miscalculated the entire situation, and grossly underestimated the stubbornness of parents to teach them what they thought to be the correct way.

This alone wouldn't be problematic, but it was followed by the naivety and ignorance of children who were barely 12 years old to understand why certain things were important yet boring to learn.

Meanwhile, other topics were less important even though they seemed fascinating for young teens.

In the end, her underestimation of these two variables turned into the reason why the young cadets had entered the cave without reassuring them that there were no other beasts that could backstab them or heavily injured students on the surface area.

While they were ignorant, Nial had thought about the possibility of beasts being at the surface, even if his senses didn't provide him with any substantial proof to verify his assumptions.

Nonetheless, he was not able to sense the vast surface of the entire two-element dungeon at once, which meant that he couldn't be certain if there were beasts anywhere, or possibly even other students who were huddled in some dark corner, and unable to move due to severe injuries.

With that in mind, he began his investigation of the surroundings before he would even start thinking of entering the cave!

As he was slowly walking through the muddy and damp soil, Nial had lots of time to think about the current situation.

Five days had passed since the dungeon emerged, and owing to the restrictions and uniqueness, many young Originals had presumed that they would be able to find treasures inside the dungeon and claim it for themselves.

Because of that they had entered the dungeon, ignoring all the warnings they had been given by other Originals, and their school.

Their haste and greed made them ignore the most basic instruction which was that they were supposed to stay away from newly emerged dungeons that looked like anomalies.

Yet, instead of paying heed to the advice, they not only disregarded it, but some students had also convinced their classmates to enter the dungeon with them.

This was a grave mistake, and also part of the reason why many students had been needlessly killed inside the two-element dungeon.

Nial hoped that Shana was fine because she seemed to be nice when he had met her at the Originals' association, which was most likely her part-time job, but the chances were slim.

Even if it was frustrating, and would most likely turn the blacksmith, who was already extremely worried, into a living corpse, he could somehow understand Shana's eagerness to explore the dungeon.

He had been the same when he had realized that the slime dungeon had manifested in their backyard and had been unable to hold himself back from entering it.

Luckily, he had faced relatively harmless beasts and had emerged from the dungeon without any injuries.

However, that wasn't the case with Shana, who had been overconfident.

Meanwhile, Nial was able to remain relatively calm as he focused on his surroundings while accessing the spatial ring.

He wanted to see what items other than the few serums and other miscellaneous items he had requested had been thrown into the spatial ring.

In fact, blacksmith Arnold had dumped almost everything Nial could make use of into the spatial ring, hoping that it would be helpful to rescue his daughter.

Not caring about the price of items was quite helpful in this situation because it allowed Nial to use everything he had as long as he would be able to rescue Shana.

However, Nial also knew that he should use the items inside the spatial ring sparingly for now because he couldn't be certain that she was even alive at the moment.

Thus, he made notes about what items the spatial ring had stored within while continuing to investigate his surroundings.

The items in his spatial ring were useful, and there was even one serum he hadn't expected the blacksmith to store inside the spatial ring because it wouldn't directly help him to rescue Shana.

Yet, after thinking about the use of the serum, he could roughly gauge what the blacksmith had meant.

'Basic Improved mana absorption' was the label on the vial, allowing Nial to get to know what exactly the serum's use was, to begin with.

The name was nothing special, and it was simply shortened to [BIMA potion] but neither of these names were fancy or truly great.

However, that didn't matter because the usage of the potion was important.

In fact, it did exactly what its name suggested; improving his mana absorption, and Nial was relieved at the blacksmith's forethought.

The mana inside dungeons was much denser, purer, and of a higher quantity than the faint mana that permeated Katu.

Thus, one could absorb and annex mana inside dungeons the best, and with an additional potion that increased the mana absorption, one didn't even have to absorb the mana from origin crystals.

It was a great potion whose effect would last approximately for 24 hours, but unfortunately, it was extremely expensive.

As such, it was not something Nial wanted to use, even less because he had yet to truly start absorbing and annexing mana, to begin with.

Since he had awoken his origin, the amount of mana he had annexed was extremely shallow, and he hadn't even done that while being in a fully focused state.

Because of that, he had yet to figure out the limits of his mana vein without the use of a potion to enhance his mana absorption.

With that in mind, he decided to test his strength and limits and for the time being ignored the temptation to take it right away so as to increase his chances of finding and rescuing Shana!

While he was deep in thought Nial realized that there was not much to see in his surroundings.

In the end his prediction about the outskirts of the enclosed area being a forest, while the existence of a cave which could be found in the inner part of the dungeon that was a muddy plain seemed to be correct.

Owing to the rain he was not able to use his sense of smell much, but with the use of his other senses and his mana perception, it took him only two hours to complete investigating the surface in its entirety.

Because of that, he was able to be sure that there was not a single being, except the trees and bushes around him, or at least he didn't find them for they were experts at hiding.

Nial knew that there were existences that could hide their mana fluctuations to an almost perfect degree, but in that case, his mana perception would detect the lack of mana in a specific area, indirectly outlining the existence he was unable to perceive.historical

Thus, there was nothing he should be worried about as long as he was not missing out on some important facts which he was supposed to be aware of.

Fortunately, there was nothing inside the two-element dungeon that he could be missing out on, but that was his great luck as his lack of knowledge brought forth many issues.

It was one thing being unsure about something, but another to be oblivious to things and the latter was definitely risky.

While being unsure would allow him to know that something could be wrong, or that specific beings were able to transmute their mana, and adjust it to the surroundings while they were hiding, being oblivious to these possibilities was extremely dangerous for himself and those around him!

Nial was the second, the oblivious kind of person not because he did it intentionally but because he was lacking the fundamental knowledge.

Nevertheless, he was thorough with everything he did, which allowed him to make up for the lack of knowledge to a certain extent.

Thus, when he returned to the cavern entrance, he was reassured that nobody could stab him in the back.

Tightly holding the Fang spear, he slowly entered the cave that was wider than and in some places even higher than what his mana perception could reach.

This was disadvantageous, but still, something Nial could cope with by moving in a zig-zag pattern, or inserting tiny traces of mana into the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability.

His hard work had paid off as he could now make use of it much better than the very first day on which the Odyssey seed had pulsated once.

Slowly approaching one of the several tunnels he could roughly gauge, Nial slowly descended the tunnel, entering the depths of the cave within a few minutes.

The pungent smell of urine, blood, and excrements filled the air, and it was extremely difficult to stay unaffected by them. Nial wrinkled his nose in disgust and tried his best to ignore it.

By remaining fully focused on the surroundings and possible attacks of beasts that the other students from five days ago, or the young cadets might have missed out on, Nial was able to decrease the effect of the horrid stench in his head.

And that was necessary because not much time passed before loud screeching sounds bounced off the cavern walls, as multiple groups of rats emerged from holes inside the walls all around him.

The wall appeared no different than a sieve with holes everywhere, and Nial had already assumed to encounter beasts sooner or later, but he had hoped that his first group of opponents would be a handful of petrification rats, and not a large group of them, at once!

This was a big problem because he had yet to understand the petrification rats' combat strength, attack pattern, and everything else, he would like to know before encountering any kind of large beast group for the first time.

Sighing deeply, Nial knew that he couldn't change his situation anymore.

With that in mind, his expression turned serious as he entered a combat stance that allowed him to attack his opponents as well as defend himself against them!

'I guess it's time….let this nightmare begin!'

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Taking a deep breath, Nial was ready to fight against the large group of petrification rats that had surrounded him.

After they had crawled out of the numerous holes that were in every wall of the entire cave, it was not difficult to overwhelm Nial, but instead of attacking him one after another, their plan had been different.

Waiting for the entire group to emerge from the holes, they had surrounded him from all sides, before slowly closing the distance towards Nial.

This was not difficult to be perceived by Nial, whose mana perception was also released, providing him with intel about the current situation.

Making use of the pieces of information, he quickly realized that there were roughly 50 petrification rats, which caused him to frown deeply.

'Why are there so many already?!'

Under normal circumstances, bigger groups of beasts would only emerge in the deepest parts of a dungeon.

As such, in a plain area like the center of the dungeon, and in the case of the two-element dungeon, they should only show up when he would venture into the deeper parts of the cave.

Unfortunately, they didn't seem to follow the norms right now as the rats, which were all roughly the size of a cat, were ganging up against him.

Despite the dangers of facing 50 opponents at once, Nial realized that blacksmith Arnold's words about the petrification rats' strength were probably correct.

His mana fluctuations were already weak, but the petrification rats could barely be considered dungeon beasts through their mana fluctuations that were barely perceptible.

In the end, the only threat from them was their ability to petrify, and the fact that they harbored numerous diseases.

Thus, Nial would normally try to avoid being scratched or bitten by the petrification rats, but would not bother about it if he were to face a large horde at once.

Instead of focusing on individual rats, he quickly decided to defeat the majority of them at once as he came up with a plan.

Fortunately, the Fang spear had the same ability as the Viper spear.

As such, he inserted some mana into it before releasing the blade on the spear's tip while doing the same to the blade that could be released on the side of the tip.

In fact, there were two blades that could be released at the tip of the spear, and Nial simply chose the blade that seemed to be only a small part of a larger blade.

Using small traces of mana to release the two blades, he saw them be connected to each other and turned the spear into a glaive that had a lengthy blade.

With a glaive, Nial was not able to attack multiple opponents at the same time instead of being forced to thrust or accurately swing the Fang spear.

Accuracy was still important, but even more so was brute force, and velocity while tackling multiple opponents.

The glaive didn't look perfect according to what he had sensed with his mana perception, and Nial realized why the Fang spear was considered to be the prototype of the Viper spear.

Nevertheless, it was more than enough to fight against the large group of petrification rats.

Confident about the razor-sharp weapon he was holding, Nial didn't wait until the rats had closed the distance to him.

Instead, he initiated an attack, shooting forward without any hesitation.

Having learned a little bit about the control of his body on the day he was beaten up by Master Junades, Nial's movements were more fluidic and smoother than ever before.

This allowed him to advance, only to halt the moment the petrification rats were about to initiate their counterattack.

The moment both of his feet touched the ground at the same time again, the entire accumulated mana within the petrification rats was released in their eyes.

Yet, Nial didn't even notice anything as he slashed horizontally at the closest batch of petrification rats, cutting through them as if their hide was as thick as the paper-thin membrane of slimes.

Even though he had expected the rats to be weak, the fact that he had just killed five of them with a single slash of the Fang spear in its glaive form clearly showed that blacksmith Arnold's comparison of a Goblin being able to kill a handful of petrification rats was not exaggerated, at all.

Emboldened by his first of the several kills, Nial was able to continue fighting with ease as he began to advance once again, leaving the encirclement of the petrification rats through the small gap he had created.

When they noticed him slip out, all of them let out a horrid screech while completely ignoring the death of their brethren.

They hadn't expected that Nial would be able to avoid being petrified even with his eyes open, which was something the petrification rats had never encountered before.

Not knowing that Nial was blind, let alone what being blind even meant, they had always thought that someone with open eyes would be easily affected by their ability.

Thus, they had been momentarily distracted, and reassured of their victory, only for Nial to prove them wrong, as he weilded the Fang spear expertly to cut and slash a tenth of their entire group while being completely unaffected by the petrification curse!

After he stepped outside the encirclement, Nial was able to take control of the situation, at least much better than it was the case while being surrounded.

Being able to sense what lay behind him up to more than 10 meters, he could ignore it for the time being even if it was still dangerous as his position was quite… disadvantageous.

In fact, he was in the middle of the open tunnel and beasts could emerge from everywhere at any moment.

As such, every little noise the petrification rats made was lethal for him as it would attract other beasts.

To avoid the occurrence of this risky scenario, they had to be defeated and killed as quickly as possible.

With that in mind, he circulated mana through his body, while smoothly wielding the glaive around his body, and adjusting himself to the slightly altered weight of a large blade, Nial couldn't help but smile lightly.

Right now, he might be at a numerical disadvantage, and his mana reserve was depleting rapidly as he was using it to circulate throughout his body, but that didn't matter as his speed increased subtly.

With a higher speed than the petrification rats, he was strong enough to lunge out at them, killing a single petrification rat before it could do anything as he retreated a step, preventing the other petrification rats from attacking him.

Following that, he changed his tactic from attacking groups, and individual rats one after another, to try out something he painfully recalled from Master Junades' beating.

Having been thrashed by Master Junades was painful and so was the memory. Nevertheless, it had been extremely helpful because his mana perception had allowed him to visualize the movements of a true master for more than half an hour!

If Master Junades had held back, this wouldn't be as useful, but Nial knew that he had given his all, even if that was without the use of mana and a restricted physical strength.

In the end, what mattered to Nial was Master Junades' expertise in the martial art techniques he had showcased.

Recalling what he had visualized, Nial began to smile as he attempted to replicate one of the simple movement sequences he had seen him perform.

As he was fully focused on his task to defeat the petrification rats as quickly as possible, Nial didn't even notice that his entire demeanor had just changed.

Previously, his mana fluctuations had been unstable, but right now, they were extremely calm and smoothly following every single movement he was doing.

Through this, the problems of continuously circulating mana through his body despite sudden movements were fixed before they even occurred.

Thus, he was able to push his feet up from the ground, slash at the closest lot of petrification rats, and use the momentum in order to continue attacking.

The more momentum he attained, the faster his attack became, and by continuing to move ahead without halting in his tracks, only now did he notice that the muscles of his forearm were starting to cramp as they were receivers of the biggest toll of being moved, stretched and twisted to an extent like never before.

Due to the cramps of his forearms, he was forced to slow down by a large margin. It made him realize that his body was not yet trained enough to move every single muscle to the extent he wanted.

Clearly seeing his limitations, Nial could only sigh inwardly, yet, a bright smile emerged on his face because the more flaws he was able to figure out about himself, the more ways to improve were unveiled.

Knowing that he was lacking was the first step, but precisely knowing what exactly he had to improve was the most important because that enabled him to fix the problems one after another!

However, right now, nothing of that mattered, whether it was his combat proficiency, the little amount of mana he possessed, his blindness, or even the fact that he was wielding a completely different weapon than usual while facing dozens of opponents at once.

That was because his heart was wildly throbbing as he was advancing through the rows of opponents, the stench of blood gushing out of the deep cuts he created in the petrification rats reeking the air intermixed with their pained squeals and chittering that made his skin crawl.

Blood splashed on his clothes, face, and organs were spilling out of the body of the deceased, turning the ground more slippery than it already was.

Yet, Nial's feet were firmly planted as he evaded them because his body was instinctively reacting to what the mana perception allowed him to perceive and visualize.

Owing to that, the large group of petrification rats, that had worried Nial a few minutes before, had been eradicated, leaving not a single one of them alive.

In the end, most of them had been cut in half through the Fang spear's glaive form, as well as the fact that Nial's physical strength had allowed him to pierce through their thin skin as if it was not much.

Being in possession of a strong weapon was quite advantageous, and this was even easily noticeable if one found opponents with a great numerical advantage but bad defenses such as the rats.

Nial hadn't even been required to exert lots of physical strength…or so one would normally think.

Unfortunately, this was not the entire truth because one required a trained body to expertly control a glaive, even more so if one wanted to create a lengthy movement sequence that was precisely created in order to defeat masses of opponents.

Right now, his body might have only been trained to do some basic workouts, but he was far from having attained a physique that allowed him to fight, let alone a state in which he could fight for hours and not sustain a physical injury due to overstraining of muscles.

Thus, he had to grit his teeth and take the first healing serum the moment he finished off the first group of petrification rats.

Even though it was not necessary in order to stay unharmed, if another group of beasts was to arrive, he would be unable to fight them with his highest combat prowess.

He might be weak but being practical and using his mind was important to even out his flaws.

With that in mind, he gulped down half of the healing serum before he began to pick up 7 origin crystals that had dropped from the corpses of petrification rats before leaving the battlefield, and entering the depths of the cave.

A/N: Support me with powerstones and golden tickets for more chapters.historical

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Somehow, Nial couldn't help but feel astonished about everything.

After his first encounter with a petrification rats group, he had yet to be encircled or attacked a second time.

Not even a single stray beast approached him which was uncommon in a dungeon that was reported to harbor several hundred petrification rats at the bare minimum!

This was weird but Nial was unable to focus on this because his entire body felt much lighter after he had strained it a little bit in order to defeat the large group of petrification rats.

He had given his best to eradicate the threat as quickly as possible, which had worked quite well but owing to the movement sequence, his mind was currently tormented.

Right now, his entire mind wanted to continue unraveling the secrets of Master Junades movement sequences and adapting those into his fighting style.

But, the knowledge seemed to evade him and Nial had to try hard not to think about it.

Unfortunately, this worked exactly in the opposite way, because the more he tried to prevent thinking about it, the more his thoughts went in that direction.

Thus, he was quite happy, when he reached an intersection that led him to three large tunnels.

According to his mana perception, there were dozens if not hundreds of small tunnels within the large ones, but that was useless for him because he was unable to squeeze himself through the thigh tunnels.

Only the petrification rats and similar beasts of that size could move in and out of those tunnels swiftly, but that was currently not important to Nial, who tried to make up his mind on what tunnel he should enter.

Despite using his senses and mana perception to figure out the differences in the tunnels, they felt the same to him.

When he touched them, all of the entrances felt cold with some spots being wet and other spots infested with weed and moss.

This astonished Nial a little bit because if moss grew in the depths of the tunnel, the entire cave had to be relatively bright and receive sunlight to allow its growth.

Yet, even though it was unexpected, he quickly averted his attention to focus on his other senses before he tried to evaluate the dangers of the caves.

'The one on the left smells like urine, extremely distinct, and it's worse than in the other tunnel in the middle that has the smell of blood in the air…as for the right tunnel…I cannot smell anything from there…that's odd!'

In the end, the tunnel on the right felt the most dangerous, and Nial didn't believe that anyone would survive in that tunnel.

It was simply too ominous, and when he recalled the thunderous roar when he had been with the cadets at the cavern entrance, Nial couldn't help but give an involuntary shudder.

When he recalled the cadets, he noticed that those faint remnants of their mana fluctuations lingered in the air, pointing towards the direction of the right tunnel.

When he sensed this, Nial couldn't help but wonder if they were extremely intelligent, or plain stupid.

They had gone searching for the boss monster because they were confident of defeating it, and also tried to be the saviors of the students who were stuck inside while simultaneously aiming for bonus merits for solving their mission with an excellent score.

Either way, Nial was definitely not one of the Originals who were confident in defeating the boss monster of the anomalistic two-element dungeon.

As such, he ignored the tunnel on the right and went into the tunnel that reeked of blood.

While the overpowering stench of urine might not indicate anything, it was likely the tunnel that would lead him to their nest.

That was not somewhere he wanted to be even remotely close to. Thus, he chose the tunnel that reeked of blood as it could mean that many petrification rat corpses might be found there.

At the same time, it was also possible for the missing students' corpses to be lying there, but that was not something he hoped to find.

Either way, he entered the blood reeking tunnel with vigilant steps, knowing that beasts could attack him from all directions.

However, he felt oddly reassured, knowing that it was impossible to avoid being surrounded without an escape route because there were dozens of small tunnels that seemed to connect to each other like an anthill!

This was interesting because Nial was able to roughly come up with a blueprint of the cave in his mind..or so he first thought.

Yet, after recalling that some students were still labeled 'missing', Nial couldn't help but believe that the two-element dungeon might be larger than it appeared.

Considering that the Melind dungeon had several floors, it was possible for the two-element dungeon to have multiple layers underground!

If the entire space of the dungeon's underground was riddled with tunnels, Nial could only make a rough estimate of just how ginormous the dungeon might be.

He had been walking on the surface and knew how vast the space was, after all.

'That's… crazy.' Nial could only think, hoping that he was interpreting too much into the fact that the government labeled the students as 'missing'.

Averting his attention from the horrifying thoughts, Nial began to visualize the movement sequences he recalled from the time Master Junades had beat him up.

His body might not be able to cope with the burden yet, but it should be possible to trim down the lengthy sequences into shorter ones which he could quickly utilize one after another.

A small break in between each sequence should be more than enough to give him just a moment to catch his breath so as to not let his muscles cramp.

He wanted to test out if that would work, but before that he would have to find new opponents. Furthermore, he had yet to properly imagine the movement sequences, let alone repeat them until he perfected them.

Not only were his muscles too weak, but his entire constitution should be completely different to Master Junades, who was anything but frail, rigid, and lacking the necessary strength like him.

With that in mind, Nial moved the Fang spear in its glaive form, trying to replicate the movement sequence in its most basic and crude form.

It didn't allow him to do anything special or move extremely fast, but slowly repeating the lengthy movement sequence was possible.

This was a great achievement because he now knew that it was possible for him to move according to his imagination, even if it was just Master Junades' most basic movement sequence that was correctly initiated.

From the outside, it might look weird and rough, but that did not matter to Nial because it was fine as long as it felt good to himself.

Unfortunately even that was not exactly the case because there were some inconveniences that were quickly solved by tweaking the movement sequence a bit, and prolonging certain movements while changing something else.

If someone else were to know what Nial was currently trying to achieve, they would either call him crazy and idiotic or a prodigious talent.

The former would be the case if he knew nothing about the anatomy of the human body, while the latter was the case if he knew what kinds of movements and alterations were dangerous for his body to make after previous movements.

Having no idea about the human body's anatomy, Nial turned into the former, an idiot with crazy ideas, and he was fully aware of this.

But though his ideas were a bit reckless, he could not just sit and waste precious time as he had yet to learn a combat technique.

As such, Master Junades' movement sequences were the only reference points he could take in order to create some simple means to attack.

Other than that, he could only attack with simple thrusts and slashes while trying to move somewhat correctly, preventing to interrupt his already crude movements.

Having memorized Master Junades' movements had saved him from being gravely injured as replicating those had enabled him to fight the large group of petrification rats even if it had strained him.

Thus, given the fact that he was fighting with his life on the line, he would rather be an idiot with crazy ideas than dead.

It was as simple as that!

After entering the depths of the blood reeking tunnel, it didn't take long before he found dozens of rat corpses that littered the ground.

The corpses seemed to be decaying, indicating that the rats were killed days ago, and the stench intensified when he passed by them.

Trying to not gag, he focussed on stepping on the clear ground so as to not slip and fall in the reeking mass of corpses.

Using his mana perception with more accuracy, Nial tried to figure out if it was possible to get to exactly know how old the corpses were.

Unfortunately, that was not possible, but what he noticed was something else that gave him a ray of hope- there were fresh remnants of mana!

This was great, and something Nial had hoped to encounter.

The remnants were strong enough to be from beings stronger than petrification rats, and based on his assessment, he could tell that they belonged to two different kinds of beings.

Nial had yet to learn how to clearly separate mana fluctuations, but there were still certain things he could roughly gauge.

While a fraction of the mana remnants felt like it was wild and unstable, indicating that it belonged to a stronger kind of beast, the majority of mana remnants belonged to the Originals, which would be great.

Despite being able to tell that the mana remnants were fresh, Nial couldn't deduce the exact time that had passed since the strong mana currents had been released!

As such, he had found a clue but was unable to tell how useful it was.

Nonetheless, it was better than nothing, and with vigilance, Nial continued to descend the tunnel, and finally, after spending ten minutes in tension, a group of petrification rats attacked him!

Nial was unable to express how happy he was about finally encountering a group of beasts that attacked him because he felt uncomfortable with the blood reeking stench permeating the air inside the entire tunnel, only to encounter not even a single beast.

Thus, after sensing the petrification rats and hearing their screeches, he smiled vibrantly. Without hesitation, he pulled the Fang glaive backward, holding it in one hand as he rushed ahead, avoiding stepping on the wet spots on the cold stone ground.

Emerging in front of the closest petrification rats, who had gathered its mana in the area around its eyes, to activate the petrification effect, it tried to intimidate Nial who was unaffected, and slashed out with the glaive, cutting the rat in half.

No hesitation could be detected in his movements that were a lot smoother than they had been during the first time he fought the petrification rats.

Learning and adapting to the movements quickly, Nial was adjusting to the given circumstances at a pace that shocked him, as he threw his body around, avoiding several petrification rats that jumped toward him.

After that, he supported his back by pushing the lower end of the glaive towards his back, preventing him from falling on the wet ground.historical

He had to avoid falling at all costs as once he fell, it would have been over because his movements would be restricted, and the time which he would require to get back on his feet would be longer.

As such, instead of pushing himself up from the ground, or the glaive, he inserted faint traces of his mana into the Fang spear that quickly released a blade from the spear's rear end, pushing him upwards.

The sound of metal clashing with stone caused his ears to prick, but Nial ignored it as he evaded the follow-up attacks of the other petrification rats.

Under normal circumstances, or even in the last battle, he would have retreated by now.

Yet, contrary to his own beliefs, Nial advanced ahead, forcing his combat instincts and everything he had comprehended about combat during the last few weeks to resurface.

His movements had already improved from the previous battle and Nial knew that this originated from the fact that he tried to imitate the way Master Junades moved, just in his own customized version!

Because of his ambition to grow stronger, he was able to defeat his opponents, and it took only a few minutes until the smaller group of 20 petrification rats was eradicated, and left behind a single origin crystal.

Picking it up, Nail ignored the corpses, and he continued to pave his way through the cave while analyzing the fight he had just won.

Yet, just as he was about to start focusing on the fight he visualized in his mind, Nial halted in his tracks when his mana perception sensed something that caused him to feel extremely uncomfortable.

The hazy outlines of a dead Original were beginning to unfold merely 10 meters away from him. And, despite his mind entering a chaotic state, only one thought flashed through his mind, repeating itself over and over.

'Please, don't let it be Shana!'

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It was a selfish thought but Nial hoped that the corpse of the Original that laid in front of him was not Shana.

He felt light-headed right now and was unable to decipher the remnants of the corpses' mana fluctuations clearly.

As such, he gulped down his saliva before approaching the corpse with slow steps.

Even if it wouldn't affect someone with a rational mind, visualizing the dead corpse of another human made him shudder.

His mind blanked out, and after bracing himself for the worst outcome, he turned around the corpse once he was in front of it, and finally witnessed that it was of a different female student and not Shana.

This caused him to feel relieved, but at the same time, he was able to visualize the corpse of the young student which was nothing to be happy about.

Her innards were spilling out of her abdomen with some of them had been viciously bitten, torn out, and eaten.

Meanwhile, her eyeballs were missing, followed by large chunks of flesh.

At this moment, Nial was happy to not be able to see something, for the first time in his life.

Chills spread over his entire body, and he took a moment before he could finally think again.

Thus, he enveloped the corpse of the young female student with his mana which allowed him to store the corpse inside his spatial ring.

'I should at least give her family the opportunity to give her a proper burial…' Nial was not sure if he was doing the correct thing, and he was not even sure what he would want to happen if one of his family members were to die.

Would he want to see the mutilated body of his loved one, or hope against hope that a miracle would happen and save them?

He was not sure, but that was not his decision, to begin with.

In the end, he decided to hand over the corpse to the military.

This would free him from the responsibilities, and guilt he would feel if he were to simply pass by the student's corpse.

The death of the female student had left a bad taste in his mouth and his mood dipped but there was no time for sorrow.

He had to become even more vigilant about possible dangers if he didn't want to end up like her.

That was the only reasonable thing to do because there was one stronger type of beast, and if his assumption was correct, his estimate of several hundred petrification rats was completely off the mark too.

Rather, it was ten times that, which caused Nial to feel a little bit uncomfortable.

Nevertheless, after making all kinds of predictions, while using the proven information, it would be stupid to ignore the fact that the number of several hundred petrification rats was nothing but a foolish thought, and a gigantic underestimation.

This assumption was proven correct because he came across more groups of petrification rats that varied in size, some were larger, while others were small in size.

In the end, he was able to defeat all of them and sustained minor scratches because the surrounding environment was becoming more difficult to use to his advantage to fight than before.

The ground was wet and slippery, and he had to move even more carefully than before in order to avoid slipping and falling to the ground because this would be his definite death sentence.

With that in mind, Nial became more careful about everything he did, which was the cause of his injuries as he was unable to vigorously attack the masses of petrification rats as before.

Thus, even after being surrounded once in a while, he fend them off while simultaneously enduring the rats' attacks, and the pain they caused.

Fortunately, owing to the leather armor he wore, his vital spots were protected, and he merely sustained flesh wounds that were quickly infested with countless deadly bacterias.

Yet, owing to blacksmith Arnold's generosity, Nial had more than enough vials with antidotes, and disinfection pastes inside.

Because of that, he didn't have to be worried about getting ill through infection and his wounds festering into something bad.

This was an advantage that the other students that entered the two-element dungeon five days ago didn't have.

That being said, he couldn't help but think that many students might have been strong enough to survive until now, but that infections should have caused them great harm.

After thinking about this possibility, Nial felt that it was the only reason for the students to be unable to reach the surface, apart from death…other than that, he couldn't think of many plausible reasons.

However, sometimes, fate worked in mysterious ways, even less inside dungeons, let alone anomalistic dungeons!

As such, he was baffled when he encountered one of the biggest groups of petrification rats fighting against three Originals.

It had only been a few hours since he had found the student's dead body, and right now, he could hear the pained screams of two young men and one woman.

Their flesh was just torn out of their body, but that was not something Nial could see. He was barely able to perceive the weakening mana fluctuations of the three Originals that were buried under the masses of petrification rats that were viciously attacking them.

In their haste and greed to devour human flesh and blood, they trampled fellow brethren, while solely being focused on the direction in which they smelled fresh blood.

The moment Nial perceived this, he instinctively acted.

He might be too weak to defeat more than a hundred petrification rats at once, but they were currently distracted while tearing apart the three Originals.

As such, Nial was able to act without hesitation, using the Fang in its glaive form in order to slash apart the petrification rats that were trying to push aside their brethren in order to reach the severely bleeding Originals.

Blood splattered through the cave as well as organs and decapitated bodies that were flying all around but luckily Nial couldn't see the sickening sight.

He massacred the petrification rats that hindered his path towards the Originals like a tornado sweeping away everything in its wake.

Even though he was sure that he didn't know them, letting them die was not something he could do as long as he was able to move.

He was not someone who would allow people to die when he knew that it was possible to save them.

With that in mind, he loosened one hand from the Fang Glaive and swung it around with only one hand, while his other hand moved towards his belt.historical

The moment Nial wielded his weapon with only one hand, even the most ignorant petrification rats had noticed him.

However, it was already too late for them to do something because Nial had been holding the pin of the flash grenade in his hand while the remaining part was in the air.

It was less than a second later that he threw it towards them and the moment it touched the ground, it exploded, issuing an ear-piercing sound that was followed by the painful squeals of more than 50 remaining petrification rats that threw their half-burned, half mutilated bodies, writhing in pain and trying in vain to escape death.

This indicated to Nial that the flash grenade had worked, allowing him to move through the rows of petrification rats, smoothly slashing through their largest batches without showing any signs of remorse.

Following that, his face was already smeared with blood and flesh and gastric fluids that had splattered through the air owing to his merciless slashes.

Thus, he paved his way through the ground that was littered with blood, intestines, brain mass, and corpses as he reached the young Originals.

Freeing a hand once again, he quickly pulled out his healing serums before throwing them at the young female who was the only conscious person, while the other two young men had tried to protect her, bearing with the endless pain of being eaten alive.

Luckily, Nial had arrived before the worst could happen.

While continuing to wail and sob, the woman's trembling hands accepted the serums which she quickly gave to her friends, hoping for the best.

She had only taken a single glance towards Nial, and after seeing how he wielded the Fang Glaive, she knew that he would be fine, otherwise, all of them would die!

As such, while she gave her friends the healing serums, Nial was killing the remaining petrification rats.

Only a few minutes passed because the petrifaction rats seemed to possess sensitive eyes which he blinded owing to the flash grenade he had used.

Once he was done, he quickly returned to the female student handing her a first aid kit before distancing himself to allow her to continue crying.

There was nothing he could do right now because he had never learned how to administer a bandage or comfort a sad person.

It might not look like one could do many mistakes, but that was not exactly wrong as disinfecting wounds and applying bandages to the injuries created by carriers of pathogens was not exactly something one should do nonchalantly.

Because of that, Nial just gave the young female student everything he assumed to be somewhat useful before he picked up the origin crystals.

There were quite a few of them, and when he picked up the last crystal he noticed something odd.

'An ability crystal?' He wondered, only to insert a trace of mana into it as three words manifested in his mind.

[Petrification eyes(Poorest)]

It was a common grade, lowest quality ability with the same tag as his Innate ability 'poorest'.

Yet, his innate ability would grow stronger while the petrification eyes would remain of the poorest possible quality.

With that in mind, he realized that they might be worth at least something under specific situations, and with enough mana utilized they might as well be extremely powerful.

However, for Nial, they were utterly useless.

Nevertheless, he stored it away, and prepared his mind to sell it in order to earn some money which he could use to tend to his sister's illness!

It had been a few days since he had seen his sister, and parents, and Nial began to wonder how they were doing. He hoped that they wouldn't worry about him and that they wouldn't ever find out that he was currently in an anomalistic two-element dungeon!

How could Nial know that only fate could tell whether he would meet his family ever again, let alone the fact that they had other things to worry about than Nial's well-being.

That was even more so the fact for Sabrina, who was currently lying inside a ginormous room, crying out in pain as her heart began to palpitate.

Her entire body was glowing in a bright white hue stemming from the fact that her heart was enveloped in layers of whitish-silver membranes that began to infiltrate her weak heart, slowly causing a metamorphosis.

At that moment a middle-aged woman looked at Sabrina with a vibrant smile on her face and she merely said one sentence to the other people that were in charge of observing Sabrina before she left.

"If anything goes wrong, or she dies, each one of you will hope to have never been born!"

With these words, amplified by her aura that immensely pressurized the minds of the people wearing white coats, she left the room in an imposing manner, unbothered by the pained cries of Sabrina.

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Thinking about his family, Nial couldn't help but sigh deeply as he approached the young female student and the two students who had just regained their consciousness.

They were staring at him, noticing his lifeless, white eyes that were highlighted by his blood-smeared face, but their common sense told them to not ask rude questions and stay quiet instead.

Pain spread through their bodies, and the two young men forgot about their curiosity as they grit their teeth in order to hold back tears.

At that moment, their female classmate stood up from the ground before she deeply bowed to Nial.historical

"Thank you very much for helping us, Sir! You are our savior!!"

When Nial heard this, he just nodded his head while inspecting his surroundings with his mana currents.

"Are there any other survivors, or did you lose the others?" He simply asked before the two young men noticed Nial's mana fluctuations brush past them.

"I…don't know if anyone else survived…we were together with a friend of ours, but she was separated from us a day ago, and we were just looking for her."

It was the female student who said this, and dread filled his heart as he asked the next question.

"Was her name Leonie Mil?"

Having seen her Originals ID card, he knew the name of the deceased student, whose corpse he had stored inside his spatial ring.

The moment he asked the question, the three students were immediately intrigued, and the female student answered with an excited squeal,

"Yes, that's her name! Did you meet her? Where is she?"

Nial could only sigh deeply before he conveyed the news of her death to her friends.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but she is dead. She was attacked by petrification rats, just like you guys, but she wasn't as lucky to escape them!"

He stated it matter-of-factly without any emotion because they had to realize what was going on as soon as possible.

After having survived the near-death experience of the large petrification rats group, they should have gotten a hang of the situation.

Nevertheless, they were oddly nonchalant about their pain…or so he thought.

What Nial didn't know was that the two male students had taken a serum that tranquilized them, to the extent that they were still able to move, but didn't let them feel any pain.

This was something they took after waking up from their unconscious state, and not knowing this, he simply assumed that their wounds looked worse than they truly were.

It was great because he thought that he would be able to procure some information from some of the students who had been inside the cave for much longer than him, which should be helpful.

Yet, the moment the young female student began to cry out, while even the badly injured young men's eyes turned moist, Nial realized that he was the one who was too nonchalant.

'I thought death was quite common in the era of dungeons…is that not the case?' He asked himself, confused by their reaction.

However, before he was able to think about this thoroughly, his ears perked up, and he immediately ordered the small group of students to stand up.

"We don't have time to cry right now. Either follow me or die!"

In the end, Nial didn't want the students to die, but that didn't mean he would recklessly sacrifice his life either.

Because of that, he rushed deeper into the cave, and in the direction the three students had just come from.

Upon seeing where Nial was heading, the students were confused, thinking that Nial was insane for walking down the wrong direction.

But it was exactly at this moment that they heard a loud growling noise from the higher end of the tunnel causing them to stiffen as they quickly got up.

While the two young men were feeling that their body was healing, their movements were sluggish due to their partially tranquilised state. Hence, the female student helped them move faster and tried to force herself to stop crying.

However, the more she tried to force her tears to cease, the more they spilled out of her eyes and splattered on her dress.

Nial noticed this, but there was nothing he could do for her.

As such, he focused on the surroundings and the fact that it was likely for the noises the three students behind him made, to be heard and attract lurking beasts.

With that in mind, he grew even more alert than before, and it was because of this fact that he even decided to absorb the mana out of two origin crystals in order to replenish his mana core.

Afterward, he tried to cultivate a little bit, increasing the amount of mana he annexed that slowly filled his mana core.

He knew that it wouldn't help him a lot, but even a little bit was better than nothing.

Thus, the three students could only see Nial quickly absorbing mana out of the origin crystals before he stored the empty crystals away.

Some said that empty origin crystals could be naturally filled in order to act as storage medium or vessels.

However, in order to do that, one was required to do something to the empty crystals, and change their structure.

Thus, Nial decided to store the empty origin crystals for now instead of throwing them away.

Following that, some time passed as they slowly approached the deeper parts of the cave, and it was only when Nial was confident to have reached a relatively secure position that he asked,

"Do you know where the other students are? Other than Leonie, I didn't find anyone, and there are still more than 10 students missing. Even if it's a small possibility, you guys must have a better understanding of the cave than anyone else…"

Even after Nial asked this, the three students didn't say anything. They first acted as if they hadn't heard him, and only when Nial stopped in his tracks did they notice that he was speaking to them.

This caused him to frown, but instead of commenting on their feigned ignorance, he simply repeated his question.

After that, the young female remained silent for a moment, only for one of the young men to answer in her stead.

"We saw how they were attacked by a group of several petrification rats…and those…larger things that were able to order the rats around… First, we were caught too, but an explosion occurred near the place we were held and Leonie opened the cage…afterward all of us could run…but only we four were able to come this far…"

The young student's voice sounded like he was drunk, and Nial had to focus to understand everything.

But once he had heard everything, he couldn't help but feel baffled.

"What larger things? Explain what they were!"

Suddenly, Nial's demeanor changed from his calm and rather relaxed behavior to demanding an answer from the young man in an authoritative tone.

He did this almost subconsciously because he suddenly felt that something was off, and that the attack of the petrification rats group made more sense.

After digesting all the provided information, he had an inkling of what must have happened.

'They're gathering every living being for something, and kill those that flee? Was that why I felt like the groups of petrification rats from before didn't want to tear me apart, but that they would just injure me to the extent that I'm unable to defend myself?'

Nial tried to make sense of the situation, but the more he thought about it, the deeper his frown became because the entire situation of the anomalistic two-element dungeon alongwith the behavior of the rats was weird at the least.

In fact, he could roughly figure out that the petrification rat groups he fought had been sent after him to capture him if possible, and not to kill him.

Thus the stronger beasts knew of him, and only when the young student told him about their appearance did he understand more about the dungeon that harbored far more intelligent beasts than petrification rats.

"If I had to describe them in simple terms, the larger things are probably the evolutions of the petrification rats. They're walking on two feet and are definitely more intelligent than the petrification rats.

I don't think their hide is thick because some of the other students were able to injure them quite easily, but their reflexes and behavior is a lot different in comparison to the petrification rats!

Despite that, their control over the petrification rats was fearsome and their mana currents are strong. I would consider it to probably be comparable to Originals at the fourth Origin rank, but I have no idea.. "

It was the other young man who said this, and based on the information he had provided, the young man seemed to know more about evolutions of beasts and so on than the rest.

The students that had entered the two-element dungeons should all be more knowledgeable than Nial, and he was fully aware of this.

However, from his point of view, utilizing common sense was not something the majority of students had been taught, otherwise, they wouldn't even have considered entering the dungeon.

Keeping that in mind, Nial knew that he had to tweak his earlier approach of 'hack n slash' while obliterating the rats, even more so after he got to know the intel about the beings he simply called Ratmen.

He knew that it was unlikely for the dungeon to harbor only one type of beast as it had two elements but considering that the Ratmen seemed to be evolutions of the petrification rats, Nial couldn't help but feel that there was something else.

Yet, even if the Ratmen were to be the biggest issue, Nial felt that they were an annoying hassle that could be avoided if one paid more attention to the situation.

After giving it some more thought, he realized that the military should have already sent more units of junior soldiers to the dungeon.

Taking this into his calculation of the current dangers, the explosion mentioned by the young man should also be something caused by the military's cadets.

It might have been caused by some brave young students that hadn't been caught too, but Nial doubted that anyone of the ordinary students had a spatial ring let alone the necessary means to cause an explosion with them.

'Maybe Shana has a spatial ring, and with her equipment, she might even be able to cause an explosion.'

He thought, blindly hoping that Shana had caused the explosion and that she hadn't been caught by the Ratmen.

Yet, before he could even finish concluding his theory, desperately clinging to the hope that the chance of Shana being alive had increased substantially, a roar resounded behind him.

Using some of the replenished mana, Nial used the [Mana Perception(Poorest), and targeted the direction from which he had heard the roar.

As such, he could clearly perceive the being the young man had described earlier.

"So that's one of the Ratmen?"

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Upon sensing the mana fluctuations of the Ratmen, Nial immediately noticed that it was not only stronger than the petrification rats in terms of physical strength, but that almost every possible trait of it was relatively enhanced.

This became only clearer when one of the young men let out a squeal.

"Close your eyes!"

His voice resounded through the cave and alerted one of the Ratmen who quickly used a portion of his mana to circulate it towards its eyes, making it seem as if they were glowing, even in his visualization that dispersed only a moment later.

Having used some mana in order to be barely able to visualize the Ratmen, Nial's assumptions were reaffirmed that it was just a gigantic Rat that could walk on two legs.

Other than that, it looked just like any other rat according to what he visualized.

There might be some other factors the others had noticed, but Nial had to digest the information he could procure because he was unable to trust the others completely.

They might be trapped in a misconception, which would be bad.

Thus, he simply decided to ignore the young man's babble and hoped that they had closed their eyes early enough, before he pushed his feet from the ground, and charged toward one of the Ratmen that was astonished for a moment.

It had never seen someone with weird eyes as Nial's, completely white in color and lifeless.

Nevertheless, it was even weirder for the Ratman to see that someone dared to look into its eyes while it cast the petrification curse.

This reaction of Nial dumbfounded it for a moment, but it overcame the shock much faster than the petrification rats were capable of.

Through this, it was able to perceive Nial's straightforward attack and skirted to the side. It was able to evade Nial's spear thrust by a hair's breadth before its tail stiffened, tripping Nial, who stumbled several times.

Having noticed this too late, Nial swayed a little as he had been too confident in his attack despite the earlier clues he had received.

Thus, after falling over the stiffened tail, he hastily got up and looked around for his opponent.

However, at that moment, it was already too late, because he felt a sharp scratching on his leather armor which was probably the Ratman's claws.

Yet, instead of panicking, Nial kept his calm, knowing that his armor was exceptionally strong.

Thus, he could push the Fang glaive backward, whose blade on the rear end was still released.

Through this, it was possible for Nial to pierce the lower end of the Fang glaive into the thigh of the Ratman.

Following that, he tore it out, while trying to inflict as much damage as possible.

This was semi-useful, as the Ratman charged towards him the moment the glaive's pointed end was ripped out of the thigh.

Nial hadn't expected that the Ratmen would be able to overcome its fear, cry out in pain and retreat as it simply charged towards him with the claws stretching out, ready to tear out his innards.

He was only able to stare at it in shock, and for a fleeting moment, Nial felt that his life might be over right now.

However, instead of letting dread consume him, he forced himself to overcome his worries as he circulated the entire mana he had accumulated through his body, thereby increasing his strength and speed by a small margin.

It was only a little bit, but the increase was enough to allow him to evade the Ratman's attack that scratched his armor once again.

Following that, he swiftly moved the Fang glaive, ignoring the pain in his cramping muscles as he slashed at the Ratman that was less than half a meter away from him.

Cutting through its abdomen, the semi myth weapon easily killed the Ratman that fell to the ground with a loud thud.

All three students were astonished to witness the short fight between Nial and the Ratman as they had barely opened their eyes after everything was already over.

After that, Nail perceived that the Ratman was still alive despite the deep gash he had inflicted.

This was most likely some sort of innate survivability trait it had, allowing the Ratman to survive severe injuries, but making it look like it was dead.

Yet, instead of falling into this trap, Nial didn't show any hesitation as he thrust out the Fang glaive, piercing through the beast's skull, and killing it in an instant.

Afterward, its body dispersed into countless particles that gathered into one origin crystal at the lowest quality of the common grade.

This astonished Nial because he had expected the origin crystal to be at least low quality.

However, instead of grumbling, Nial focussed on the fact that his earlier assumption might have been wrong.

'Is the Ratman really an evolved version of the petrification rat? Couldn't it be a mutation?'

It was weird for the evolved version of a beast to drop the exact same origin crystal.

There might be some exceptions but it was certainly not common.

Because of that, Nial was confused when he picked up the origin crystal.

Despite that, he simply absorbed the crystal while replenishing his mana in order to be prepared for a possible attack of more opponents.

After he was fully recuperated, Nial inspected his armor by using his mana perception before he averted his attention to the depths of the tunnel.

Yet, before he could think more about a safe way to enter the deeper parts of the cave which his senses and mana perception labeled as extremely dangerous, the three other students began to express their opinion about the current situation.

"Eh…Sir..I'm sorry but I don't know your name, Sir! I can tell that you want to go deeper into the cave, but wouldn't it be better for us to reach the surface instead, and report the current situation to the military?

After receiving the additional intel, more militants should be able to come and help the other students!"

When Nial heard this, the first reaction he gave was to stare at the young female student using his lifeless eyes.

In fact, he didn't even stare at her, but he simply turned in her direction, which made her feel uncomfortable the moment she finished her 'well-meant advice'.

Yet, instead of accepting or even acknowledging her opinion, Nial could only frown as he countered her.

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"So, to put it simply, you want me to take you three back to tell the military things they should already be aware of, if they're not stupid?

You do know that it will take me more than a whole day to take you guys back and return to this spot, right?

What do you think will happen in one day? Furthermore, are you guys even worth being rescued? From the looks of it you three are but a burden, and I'm just an Original at the 1st Origin stage!"

Nial's blunt comment hit the three students hard and they were taken aback by his harsh but honest critique.

Yet, instead of accepting that Nial wanted to venture further into the deeper parts of the cave in order to solve the mission he had been given, the female student wanted to continue convincing him but was held back by one of the young men.

It was the one who seemed the most reasonable…or so Nial initially thought.

Unfortunately, the young man seemed to be the exact opposite which Nial only noticed after he heard him speak.

"Who cares about the others? I can give you everything you want if you bring us back. You saved our lives, so I'm already obliged to thank you, owing to our family's motto.

If you help us out, I can promise you to give everything within my power!"

Nial was unfazed by what the young man believed to be a tempting offer, and the only thing he could answer was,

"Don't fret about it. There is no need to return any kind of favor. Just let me go my way and you can go yours. I want to save someone else, and if you guys don't want to come with me, the exit can be found easily.

Just walk upwards!"

Even though he could understand the students' mentality as they had been stuck in the cave for days and they must be afraid of dying, their mana core had already undergone one or more enlarging processes.

As such, if they had learned to fight, it would have been possible for them to fight against the petrification rats and the Ratmen.

Thus, even if they were injured, they would be able to survive as long as they would be desperate enough to return to the surface.

However, that was not the case, and they had visibly relaxed after Nial's arrival and hoped that he would turn into their bodyguard and deliver them to the outside world with a smile that was clearly visible according to their body's stance.

It was almost as if they had simply fooled around in school, doing nothing special, other than learning math, languages, dungeons, and much more.

This was ridiculous, and Nial didn't think that they deserved to be treated with a priority just because one of them belonged to a somewhat affluent family.

With that in mind, Nial continued to walk down the cave, ignoring the obviously dumb students, who thought that wealth was the answer to all problems.

In the end, it might be possible to lure certain individuals with wealth, but Nial was not one of them.

Neither did he like getting anything he didn't deserve, and even less did he adore not keeping his end of the bargain.

He might not have promised the blacksmith to bring Shana alive to him, let alone that he was capable enough to protect her, but that didn't mean he wouldn't give his utmost efforts to save her as long as the slightest possibility of her being alive was still there.

With that in mind, bringing the three students back to the surface before returning would mean that he had to waste precious time that might turn into a deciding factor between life and death of the captured students.

Right now, he didn't even know what had happened to the students or what the Ratmen planned to do with them.

Because of that, Nial felt uncomfortable about the entire situation.

In fact, if possible, he would rather encounter many opponents sooner, than see how his opponents overwhelmed the other students, killing them in a gruesome manner.

It might not be possible for Nial to fight against hundreds of petrification rats at once, but at least he harbored the will to fight against them, which was something most students didn't seem to have.

However, this was even more confusing than everything else because in his opinion students should have been taught that it was important to clear dungeons to make them disappear so that it was possible for mankind to regain their territory if the dungeons were not permanent.

And even if there were permanent dungeons, figuring out the period until they would have their breakout, and a perfect tactic to clear the dungeon would be enough to solve this too.

In that way, they might even be able to regain some of their lands and expand their control beyond the nine shelters.

Yet, Nial also knew that the nine shelters were completely different from each other with Katu being considered the place where everything was still cozy and relaxed.

And this was exactly what Nial was currently witnessing, the relaxed and laid-back attitude of students that didn't even realize how dangerous the situation was they were currently in.

This didn't even change completely after they had been injured severely, which was something that Nial couldn't understand, at all.

Whether it was his mindset that was closer to reality or them being simply too stupid, he was unable to tell, and in the end, it didn't matter because he left them on their own, accepting whatever they wanted to do with their time and life.

Yet, when he heard them shouting after him, Nial couldn't help but feel a little bit frustrated.

'Couldn't they have just left…?'

Despite that, he halted in his tracks and tried hard to not turn around and give them a nice scolding.

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While staying calm on the outside, Nial was furious on the inside.

The three students were entitled and still under the impression that they could try convincing him to do everything they wanted.

In the end, they even tried to use their background in order to make him reconsider their offer.

However, nothing seemed to work, and it was only when the three students became too loud that Nial finally reacted.

Yet, his reaction was different than the three students had expected.

Brandishing the Fang Glaive, Nial stopped the tip of the blade barely a few centimeters away from the arrogant young man's neck, who was the noisiest.

His words died on his tongue as he stared wide-eyed at the blood of the beasts he had killed not long ago, dripping from the blade.

Had he not stopped at the young man's neck, the blade would have easily sliced through the flesh, beheading the young man without any hesitation, using actions instead of words to convey that Nial had no intention to bring them outside.

Following that, Nial put his free hand in front of his closed mouth as he added in a low voice,

"I may not be allowed to kill anyone inside dungeons, but you three should know that nobody will find out what happened to you if I were to kill you first and let the petrification rats feast on your corpses…because there is literally nobody around to witness anything…So…please don't even make me consider this, and keep your mouths shut, alright?"

In order to quiet down the three students, he threatened them with his weapon and words, both of which were sharp.

Even if they were annoying, he wouldn't kill them, but that was not something they had to know.

Earlier, they had considered him as a pushover, who got lucky but he ensured that they got to see what he was truly capable of.

As such, he made them change their opinion of him, by acting as if he would kill them if they were to annoy him.

Following his words, he retracted his blade, turned around, and nonchalantly continued to walk into the deeper parts of the cave.

It didn't take long before he encountered another intersection, but this time, Nial was fairly quick in understanding that the vast majority of beasts were inside the tunnel towards his left.

With that understanding, Nial decided to enter the left tunnel without hesitation, because he was eager to find out why the Ratmen had ordered the petrification rats to capture Originals.

This didn't make sense to him and he sensed that there had to be something that made the Originals interesting enough for the Ratmen to sacrifice hundreds of petrification rats, just to capture a few students.

In the end, understanding this interest of the Ratmen might even allow Nial to understand the bigger picture about the two-element dungeon, its anomalistic behavior, and what other factors made the dungeon unique.

There might be even more than he and the military knew for now, and Nial wanted to figure it out if it meant that he could rescue Shana.

Prioritizing the young girl, who had recklessly entered this dungeon just to secure a small part-time job at the Originals association, was the most important, and the lives of the other students and Originals followed directly after.

While Nial didn't even know the reason for Shana to work at the Originals association, it should mean that she was not as weak as blacksmith Arnold had told him.

That was something Nial realized only recently and he hoped this to be the case as it further increased the chances for Shana to be alive

Yet, the moment he reached the area that was near the place from which the thunderous noises of hundreds of rat squeals originated, he couldn't help but feel flummoxed.

Even though he was not able to see anything, all of his senses began to warn him about something, telling him to stop moving and even his mana perception stagnated, behaving as if it had frozen in place.

Meanwhile, the three students stared at the gigantic hall they had escaped from with a perplexed expression.

"It… didn't look like that before…"

The girl mumbled, only for one of the young men to cover her mouth with his hand, preventing her from speaking another word.

And this was necessary because the young female student began to scream, but thankfully the hand muffled her voice as she saw what the other student had spotted a moment earlier.

Because of that, Nial noticed that something was wrong, which made him turn around to reach the other male student as he asked in a low voice.

"Why is she screaming?"

Not being able to see, Nial could only resort to asking questions.

Right now he was feeling a suffocating amount of mana around him, which he was unable to absorb, let alone control in any way.

As such, it brushed past his body and face without moving along his body's outlines as it would under normal circumstances.

This was uncommon and Nial had never heard about or experienced such a phenomenon.

However, that could be based on his lack of experience and knowledge, which forced him to ask the young man what was going on.

There had to be a reason for how uncomfortable he felt, and the young woman's outcry!

With that in mind, Nial waited for the young man to speak, only to receive an answer that was filled with shock, uncertainty, and fear.

"They…tied five Originals to a pillar each…and cut open their wrists?...the blood is filling a weird runic circle, which seems to be the origin of the weirdly transmuted mana you might be sensing…

I…do not know what is currently going on in the center of the runic circle of blood…but it looks like the mana is gathering there, and something is occurring.

Maybe it needs more time…or blood…or mana, I'm…not sure, but the Originals are still alive…I think."

Even if he was unable to see or sense anything right now, he could imagine that something ominous was going on in the center of the gigantic hall.

As such, Nial's first task was to regain full control over his body and mind.

Trying to stay calm, he first asked the young man, who was stuttering in fear about a description of the Originals' that were tied to the pillars.

The young man's first reaction to this was confusion because he was not sure what Nial wanted to achieve with a description of the Originals' appearance, but after thinking about it for a moment he understood it.

'If he is searching for someone…he would probably charge forward, and try to save the person he is looking for…is that it?'

Imagining that this was highly likely, the young student felt unsure of what exactly he should hope for.

Did he want Nial to find out that the person he was searching for was currently dying a slow death while being tied to a pillar that was surrounded by thousands of petrification rats, or did he want Nial to stay by their side?

In the end, it was the latter because he and his classmate were still injured and also unable to feel any pain owing to the tranquilizer that made their movements rigid.historical

As such, the young student told Nial about the appearance of the Originals that were tied to the pillars, hoping that the person Nial was searching for was not among them.

Fortunately, this was the case, and weirdly enough when he began to tell him about the appearance of the other Originals that were imprisoned in the cage nearby, none of the imprisoned seemed to be the one Nial was searching for either.

There were mostly young students that were caught and only a few slightly older Originals.

From the looks of it, they were all injured, but the majority of blood staining their clothes and on the floor probably did not belong to them as the amount was simply too much.

After hearing the young man, Nial nodded his head, understanding that Shana was either roaming through the cave after almost six days had passed since the two-element dungeon had emerged, or she was already dead.

Ignoring the possibility of her death, Nial began to procure more information about the ginormous hall, such as the number of beasts, the number of tunnels that were connected to the cave, and the cave's structure, including its interior.

It was annoying to depend on someone else, but he had to accept that the only thing he could do right now, was to ask questions that allowed him to figure out the things he was currently unable to perceive on his own.

Others wouldn't be able to swallow their pride but Nial was pretty sure that pride was not what kept him alive.

The alternative to this was to blindly enter the ginormous hall just to procure the basic information that was easily seen by the others simply because they had what Nial was never able to gain ever again- They could see!

Once again, Nial felt the big disadvantage of being blind, but he tried to keep his calm and not to show how displeased he was with the given situation.

'The ability I'll bind to my mana core has to solve every problem my incapability to see causes, or at least I shouldn't be at a disadvantage when compared to someone who can see if I use an ability in combination with the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] Innate ability that will improve according to my strength…'

Complaining didn't help him, and after he figured out all the necessary information, Nial nodded his head as he mumbled.

"That sounds like a blood sacrifice…but it could also be a summoning…"

There were many things that could suit the descriptions he heard, but a summoning required a tremendous amount of mana, which was not something the Originals that were deprived of their mana would likely possess.

Yet, if he were to take the blood and life's sacrifice of all present Originals into account, this might change.

It was terrifying, and Nial had only found out about all of these unique things in the library as he had heard rumors about blood sacrifices and summonings performed by beings like Lichs, Vampires, and other beings to allow even stronger beings to emerge.

Because of that, he was currently a little bit in distress, believing that the Ratmen wanted to summon a stronger being by sacrificing the Originals they had caught.

A stronger being inside the two-element dungeon would mean that it was even more difficult to conquer, which would in return mean that it might be impossible for ordinary Originals to clear it.

There was a restriction on the strength an Original was allowed to have in order to enter the two-element dungeon after all.

In the end, this might even lead to a dungeon breakout inside the shelter, which would be quite a disadvantage for the military's reputation and a hassle to tackle it while saving the lives of all those around and inside it.

Yet, somehow, Nial believed that this might as well be the best option if the summoning were to be successful, and the remaining Originals rescued.

Sending weak Originals inside the dungeon only for them to be killed by a summoned being that might as well be stronger than the dungeon's boss itself was not exactly a smart move.

However, even though he was worried about the summoning, Nial was even more confused about why such a complex and tricky ritual was being performed in a Lowest Rookie dungeon.

That made no sense, but if the young man was not lying to him, which shouldn't be the case based on their shocked reactions, a ritual was definitely happening.

'Wasn't this supposed to be a two-element dungeon…with the light affinity…where is the light?!? I can only feel darkness…and everything seems to become darker the more time passes…and that…also includes my chance to survive…'

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The more time passed the less comfortable Nial felt about the situation inside the two-element dungeon.

Because of that, he quickly retreated to the last intersection, where he took one of the other tunnels and entered it.

Moving without any hesitation, he briskly walked ahead making the three students feel astonished as they hadn't expected him to recover so quickly from the shocking things he had heard.

Their bodies seemed to have frozen on the spot after what they had just witnessed.

However, considering that Nial didn't see what they had seen, the description of the scene might not have been as harrowing as the scene itself allowing him to be relatively unaffected.

With that in mind, it was logical that Nial recovered faster than them.

Yet, it was their ignorance that made them gloss over the possibility that Nial was aware how dangerous the situation was, and that it was exactly because of this fact that he moved so fast.

He began actively using the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability up to the point at which the surrounding mana could barely maintain a balance between using mana, absorbing and annexing it.

Worried about the summoning that could occur at any moment, if the description of the young male student was succinct, Nial moved through the empty tunnel, and the moment the earth beneath them began to shake, he broke into a run.

Moving faster and faster, Nial started circulating mana through his body, enhancing his entire being, including his senses which he used to rush through the tunnel.

With each passing second, he felt that something bad could happen, and unbeknownst to him, his feet carried him faster than the others, increasing the distance from himself to the three students that followed him considerably.

But seeing this made them forget their fear of the surrounding, and the ritual as the fear of losing Nial took over their minds.

They believed him to be the only person who would bring them outside the cave and two-element dungeon.

It was just something the three of them felt to be the case, and even if Nial was at a lower rank, he was, in fact, much stronger than them.

Thus, the young female student let out an anxious shriek and shouted after Nial, who was forced to halt.

He would have never expected the female student to be stupid enough to shout out his name loudly, at least, not after she had witnessed how Originals had been tied and their wrists slit open to sacrifice them.

Because of that, he forced himself to slow down, which caused the young female student to fall silent.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, several voices from the opposite direction to the one he was rushing at could be heard.

This astonished Nial a little bit, but at the same time, it told him that it had not been that disastrous for the young female student to shout after him.

Otherwise, the few voices in front of him would have already been attacked by petrification rats or the Ratmen.

Fortunately, it looked like the Ratmen and petrification rats were currently all occupied with sacrificing the Originals that had already been caught.

And this was also the most important topic the Originals that he and the other three students approached were talking about.

"We have to save the other students and Originals! They will die if we do nothing, don't you know that Jack!?"

A young female student asked indignantly, as the young man, presumably Jack, sounded firm, and disciplined as if he was ready to do everything if he was ordered to.

"I think the last five days you spent in the cave caused your brain to get too little oxygen. Who the hell do you think is strong enough to defeat dozens of these…Ratmen and thousands of petrification rats?

Do you think the military would send out one of their elite military units?! Even if they did, what would apprentices of their elite units at or below the 3rd Origin rank do about so many opponents?

I've been sent to save everyone, but if you think that I would needlessly sacrifice my life for dead people, you are wrong…no thanks!"

Saying so, the young man, called Jack, made his stance clear.

Nial concluded that he was one of the older men of the military that had been sent to save everyone.

According to his origin rank and age that was around Nial's, Jack must have been a late bloomer.

Thus, he was able to think more rationally than almost everyone around them, which Nial found to be a pleasant sight.

With that in mind, he cleared his throat to announce his arrival.

Upon seeing Nial and the other three students, the small group of students and the junior unit of the military tensed for a moment, only to calm down when they saw that they weren't being pursued by any kinds of beasts.

Jack and the others had already heard them from further away, and it was fortunate that there was no petrification rat nearby.

Because of that, he could calm down as he introduced himself.

"Hello, my name is Jack Namid, I belong to the Junior Military Unit 8562. Pleased to meet you!"

Staring at Nial, Jack immediately noticed that the young man was blind.

However, that didn't mean he was weak, even less because the three students that were all at the 2nd or 3rd Origin rank seemed to huddle behind him, believing him to be their savior after their confidence had been shaken by something.

Seeing that a blind young man was strong and as old as he was, Jack sighed inwardly, relieved to finally encounter someone who was able to think clearly.

Introducing himself quickly, he revealed his identity and the three students behind him got to know his name for the first time, which was noticed by the others, clearly showing that they didn't know each other.

Yet, at that moment, a flabbergasted voice could be heard from behind the group Nial had encountered.

"Nial..?! What are you doing here…?"

Confused about the sudden appearance of the young and blind man she had assessed only a few weeks ago at the Originals association, Shana stepped forward.

Perceiving Shana's outlines and her familiar mana fluctuations he smiled lightly before he countered her.

"I could ask you the same! Don't you know that your old man is worried? Even to the extent of sending someone blind at the 1st Origin stage into the two-element dungeon!"

Hearing the short summary that explained the reason why Nial had entered the dungeon, the Originals couldn't help but look at Shana, wondering how her father could be cruel enough to send a blind person in a dangerous dungeon!

Furthermore, Nial seemed to be a late bloomer, and he was barely at the 1st Origin rank, indicating that he had recently awoken his origin.

From the way he walked around, Nial didn't seem to be professionally trained either, even if his movements were smooth.

As such, Jack was momentarily confused because he had not expected someone to enter the dungeon with so many bad prospects only to save someone, who was supposed to be much stronger, and neither could he comprehend why the military didn't send more units to rescue those who had been stuck in the dungeon.

Did nobody return to the surface, and ask for help?

He was sent to the dungeon four days ago, and until now, there was no sight of other military units!

That was the case if one were to exclude the useless brats that behaved like powerful Originals, only to be heavily injured the moment they faced a group of less than 50 petrification rats.

If that was all, the military's situation or intel was much worse than they could find out themselves.

However, Jack was the most worried about the situation beneath them because the ground was shaking, and he was able to sense tremendous waves of transmuted mana from there.

Because of that, he assumed that the boss monster was lurking below them and would pounce upon them at any moment.

This gave them the necessary time to flee under the condition that everyone agreed to leave.

Unfortunately, this was not the case because almost half of their group wanted to rescue their classmates and friends and not just save themselves.

Jack gave this thought lots of credit, and he respected their opinion even more than before.

However, what use would it be to die while rescuing others?

With that thought, he hoped that Nial and the students behind him had more intel than them about the situation below.

"By chance, do you guys know what is going on below us?"

The moment Jack asked this question, he knew that the newly arrived group knew more than they were showing.

This was evident based on how the three students frowned deeply while turning pale, and Nial let out a sigh.

While answering the question thoroughly, the young man who had described everything he had seen in the hall to him earlier didn't leave out anything.

Rather, he described it in harrowing details than before, owing to the fact that he wanted to leave the cave, or to be precise, the entire two-element dungeon as quickly as possible.

There had been no need to be so explicit because it was already devastating enough, but Nial had to acknowledge that the young man's storytelling skills were exceptional.

Even he couldn't help but feel a little bit intimidated about the situation, even though he was aware of it!

At that moment, just as everyone had lowered their guard to intently listen to the story the young man told, Nial flinched as he sensed something nearby.

Compressed mana in the shape of an earth spike was shooting towards them, or to be precise, Shana, who stood in the center of the group, along with the others.

The velocity at which the projectile zoomed at them exceeded everything Nial had seen until now, and he knew that he was not fast enough to move.

Yet, knowing that his senses had perceived the attack earlier than everyone else, he couldn't help but force his entire being to move just fast enough to protect the person for whom he had risked entering the two-element dungeon.

Not only would it be a waste of his time and efforts if Shana were to die right now, but also the knowledge of the rituals being carried out in the deeper parts needed to be told to the concerned authorities.

Rather, it would be a shame if Shana were to die just as he found her, right in front of him, without him being able to do something against it.

Feeling that he had to move, his mana shot through his veins, coursing through his entire body, and allowed him to take a small but important step that was followed by him thrusting the Fang glaive forward despite barely touching its lower end.

Meanwhile, Jack had already begun to move, as he sensed Nial's movement followed by him perceiving the sudden attack.

Making use of his exceptional martial art talent, and superior instincts, he figured out the situation in a moment, allowing him to realize that Nial's glaive thrust would block the earth spike.

Yet, at the same time, it would fling the glaive out of Nial's hand, rendering him defenseless and without a weapon.

The glaive could possibly injure others too.

Thus, Jack circulated a large amount of mana through his body with the majority directed towards his leg as he kicked out, hitting the flat end of the glaive's rod just a fraction of a second after Nial had thrust it out.

A moment later the earth spike impacted on the glaive's blade.

'How…did he know?' He wondered how Jack was able to comprehend the situation so quickly. But there was no time to think about it as he turned around and activated the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability that targeted the direction from where the earth spike had been shot towards them.

When he sensed who, or rather what had attacked them, Nial clearly understood that he had no time to waste on the abilities of Jack, or anyone else because the beast that emerged in front of them was the biggest problem.historical

That was because it was the boss of the dungeon that had just emerged in front of them.

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Nial might be unable to see the Boss monster of the two-element dungeon, but he could clearly sense its outlines owing to the distinct mana fluctuations it released.

On the first evaluation, it was almost as if the Boss monster was just a larger version of the Ratmen with horns jutting out of its head.

However, that was not the case and it was more like a large part of the horned bipedal beast's body that had the facial features of a rat was, in fact, manifested from earth transmuted mana!

The physique of the Boss Monster was bulky and Nial felt that it had a striking resemblance to the physique of a furry Minotaur, which was a beast he had first read about in a book in Katu's library.

This was interesting, but also a clear indicator that the Boss monster was not only able to use an elemental affinity but that its physique was not to be underestimated either.

Yet, contrary to his earlier doubts about the Boss monster having a light affinity that was intertwined with the darkness affinity which radiated from the dungeon portal, it looked like the Boss monster had a completely different affinity!

Other than that, it was strolling through the enormous cave, without any subordinates.

There was not even a single Ratman, let alone petrification rats around it, which was truly confusing, and Nial began to wonder if they had encountered a rare boss instead of the Dungeon Boss.

However, before he could even start expanding on this theory he quickly retracted the Fang glaive, while Jack took a step forward.

Taking out two daggers, he went into one of the most basic fighting stances that were taught by the military.

Yet, the way he stood coupled with his body language and demeanor turned him into something that was similar to what Nial had sensed from Master Junades.

It was almost as if a relatively inexperienced Combat master was standing right next to him, which was weird, but oddly enough, affirmed by Jack a moment later.

"I didn't bind an ability to my mana core yet, but I have an Innate ability, called [Weapon Master]. It increases my proficiency with weapons, and my reflexes are much faster than that of others!"

By telling Nial this information, he revealed everything necessary for him to consider fighting together. It allowed them to build trust, and gauge how strong their partner was.

Unfortunately, Nial knew that he paled in comparison to Jack and his prowess.

The information about him would be rather demotivating, which made him remain quiet about the time he had awoken his origin or the fact that he was not proficient in fighting, at all.

Instead, he simply replied while trying to summarize his strengths in a few words.

"I've got no ability either, but I do have great mana perception and strong senses!"

Jack had hoped for Nial to have a strong ability, but even after revealing that this was not the case, the calmness with which the young blind man was standing next to him allowed Jack to remain calm too.

Though he had a powerful ability, he was not confident to fight against the beast he presumed to be the boss or a rare boss of the dungeon, not alone.

However, with Nial, who had reacted even before him, by his side and the other comrades he had in his small group, defeating the rare boss shouldn't be too much of an issue.

"Lea, use your poison to prepare long-range trajectories, Mark, I'll rely on your aim, and Nino, I want you to restrict its path with your fire affinity, just as we practiced during the last few months, alright?"

Distributing tasks within his unit, he quickly chalked out a plan and his team members readily prepared themselves, the moment they were dragged out of their train of thoughts.

Meanwhile, the other Originals could only stare at the five young men and women that were already fully occupied, accepting the fact that they were just about to face a beast that was much stronger than them.historical

In fact, Jack and Nial started preparing themselves for the battle too immediately after Jack's instructions had ended.

Both of them started to circulate mana through their body, almost at the same time before they pushed their feet up from the ground, accelerating their speed at a shocking pace and rushing toward their opponent without any signs of hesitation.

Jack was once again astonished by Nial because it would be hard to tell that Nial was blind if one didn't see his white lifeless eyes.

Nial had learned to overcome his disability and move as any ordinary person could see.

He would also go as far as to say that Nial's movements were better with fewer unnecessary steps than his own, which allowed the young blind man, who looked like he had never been trained by a professional, to run as fast as him.

Under normal circumstances, this would have annoyed Jack, and his useless pride would have forced him to challenge Nial.

However, right now Nial was a perfect and trustworthy ally, and the stronger his ally, the better their chances of survival!

Jack knew that he required the strongest possible ally because the Horned Earth Ratour, which was the name of the boss, was a beast that was feared owing to its physical strength and its high proficiency in the earth affinity.

This allowed the Horned Earth Ratour to fight against higher-ranked beasts while being comparable to an Original at the 4th Origin rank.

Being at the 4th Origin rank, and able to defeat a Boss Monster that had the mana fluctuations and also the same amount of mana as an Original at the 5th Origin rank, the Horned Earth Ratour shouldn't exist inside the two-element dungeon, to begin with.

Unfortunately, it was a fact that it was standing right in front of them, and because of that, Jack was glad that Nial's reflexes and instincts allowed him to reach a fraction of a second before him.

His mind seemed to be calm too, which allowed Jack's earlier impression of Nial to improve another notch, making him completely forget about his blindness.

Both of them turned their attention to the Horned Earth Ratour who was now standing less than 20 meters away from them.

It had yet to move after throwing one earth spike towards them as a clear warning to not bother it.

Yet, Nial and Jack attacked it before the Horned Earth Ratour had come up with the second step of its plan.

As such, it followed its instincts and manifested a batch of earth spikes in mid-air which it shot toward Jack and Nial.

The speed at which the earth spikes flew towards them was blindingly fast, and Nial could barely evade one, while another earth spike blocked his advance, forcing him to deflect it by moving the Fang glaive accordingly.

Meanwhile, Jack was able to slash through the earth spikes easily as he swiftly moved his dagger. But, then suddenly an earth wall shot out of the ground, right in front of him.

It was only a thin wall, but it forced Jack to halt in his tracks, giving the Horned Earth Ratour the opportunity to initiate the counterattack.

Using this opportunity, it shot towards Nial, who was deemed as the weaker opponent of the two. Manifesting earth spikes while advancing ahead, it shot them towards him, forcing Nail to retreat while deflecting the attacks.

Though he was unable to see, his other senses were much stronger, but even then it barely allowed him to make sense of the entire situation.

This was because his mana perception had to perceive the few fast-moving earth spikes followed by the Horned Earth Ratour's advance.

However, that was less of an issue for Nial than Jack, who had perceived Nial's struggle as he deflected the earth spikes.

Moving around the earth wall, Jack was now approaching Nial from the side, but he knew that he would be a little late owing to the gap that had formed between them.

Yet, at this moment, Jack was able to see how Nial's movements changed completely, making him much faster, and agile.

His body language reflected his increased confidence, and most importantly, a higher level of control than before.

From moving like a relatively good amateur martial artist, Nial's movements now rivaled that of someone he had seen in a video once, a long time ago, astonishing him greatly.

But that was not the only welcome change in his demeanor as Nial not only deflected the earth spikes easily, but the Fang glaive transformed all of a sudden, turning into a seemingly normal spear that had a lengthy blade.

Using the Fang spear, Nial thrust it towards the Horned Earth Ratour that had emerged in front of him. His entire mana was circulating through his body as his mind was rattling.

The moment he had noticed that the Horned Earth Ratour was targeting him, Nial had sensed that death was looming over him, and it was almost as if his entire being perceived the sudden appearance of the Grim reaper, whose cold blade was digging into his neck.

There was no way Nial would have perceived this, and stayed idle.

Because of that, he had forced himself to release his entire mana, while utilizing one of the more difficult movement sequences, without short breaks in-between.

Thus, his movement looked smooth and graceful, almost like a dancer making it look like he had suddenly gained a higher understanding of martial arts.

However, his body felt as if it was breaking apart at the same time because he had pushed his legs against the ground, in order to allow his remaining body to face the brunt of the Horned Earth Ratour's attacks.

In fact, Nial was not able to pierce the Ratour with his spear even once, because it seemed to be able to move with much higher flexibility than its body suggested.

Despite that, it was barely able to deflect his attacks, using earthen gloves that enveloped its claws in order to prevent them from being cut off by the razor-sharp tip of the Fang spear.

Fortunately, Nial was not alone when the Horned Earth Ratour made its way through the bombarding attacks of his spear thrusts, almost flinging the Fang spear out of his hand.

With three earth spikes manifested, and its fist punching out to hit Nial, the Horned Earth Ratour attacked viciously and Nial realized that it would be impossible to evade everything, without being hit by at least one or two projectiles.

Nonetheless, this was something Nial accepted, owing to the fact that the Horned Earth Ratour was fully focused on only him, completely forgetting about the existence of Jack, who had already appeared next to the Ratour.

Slashing out with one of his daggers, he cut through one of the earth spikes, while his other dagger was approaching the Ratour's thick arm, cutting into it without any mercy.

Because of that, the Ratour's punch was delayed, and Nial could evade one of the earth spikes, while the other one tore a sizable chunk of his leather armor before it brushed past his abdomen.

His body gave an involuntary shudder at the near miss, but he couldn't stop right now because Jack was already moving ahead.

At the same time, the Horned Earth Ratour circulated mana through its body which increased its physical strength considerably as it flung Jack through the room, and deliver its delayed punch.

Through this, Nial was pushed backward, and he could only endure the impact, because the attack of the Horned Earth Ratour had weakened owing to the injury it had sustained.

However, this was rather disadvantageous, because Nial had to face the onslaught of the Ratour without anyone by his side…or so he thought.

It was just at the moment Nial thought that he had to go all-in, that his Odyssey Seed showed signs of pulsating once again as an itching spread through his body.

Though, it was just a moment later that the itching disappeared and he saw an incoming attack. It was a volley of fireballs and poison-soaked arrows that soared through the air making the two youths shout.

"Sorry for acting so late, you guys were in the way!"

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Now that the surrounding area of the Horned Earth Ratour was clear, the fireballs and poison-soaked arrows couldn't hit Jack or Nial anymore.

Instead, they were flying towards the Ratour that had been distracted for a brief moment and looked up when it was already too late.

Two arrows hit it, and a handful of fireballs exploded next to the Horned Earth Ratour, preventing it from evading the following attack.

Even though nobody on Jack's team could know for sure that he would be able to act, they trusted their leader, and that he would save them from a disaster no matter what.

Owing to their unwavering trust in him, they bombarded their target with attacks by using a vast majority of their mana.

But that was fine as long as their leader received the opportunity to counterattack and kill the beast they presumed to be the dungeon's boss.

However, astonishingly enough, Nial, the blind young man who they had presumed to be unable to continue fighting, was the first to react after the fireballs exploded.

Sensing the unstable mana fluctuations of the Horned Earth Ratour, Nial was confident that it would be unable to use its affinity for a brief period.

Because of that, he ignored the pain that spread through his entire body as he crossed the short distance that lay between him and the Horned Earth Ratour while simultaneously piercing out the Fang Spear.

Thrusting the razor-sharp blade into the muscular shoulder of the Ratour, he heard its horrendous screech, but contrary to Nial's expectations, it didn't budge even a single millimeter as its black eyes that were filled with wrath stared right into his white eyes.

Nial didn't see anything, but he could still perceive the Ratour's wrath and unbending will to tear him apart, which further increased after sustaining another injury.

However, it was just at this moment that Lea's uniquely concocted poison which was further enhanced through her ability began to show its effects.

It had paralyzed the Horned Earth Ratour for a quarter of a second, giving him barely enough time to force himself to use a fraction of mana in order to retract the blade of the Fang spear and move it.

Through this, he could take a step backward, just as another fireball was thrown at the Horned Earth Ratour, colliding with its head, and exploding into a cloud of smoke.

Following that, another high-pitched squeal that was filled with pain was issued by the Ratour that began to release earth-transmuted mana from its whole body, manifesting earth spikes that shot out of the ground, and aimed for Nial.

This caused Nial's expression to stiffen because he knew that he was unable to deflect the attack.

Yet, before the earth spikes could reach him, the speed at which they shot towards him slowed down, giving him the necessary time to evade them as he flung himself to his right side.

Jumping up a moment later, his mana perception visualized the Horned Earth Ratour, followed by Jack, whose daggers were pierced into the beast's back before he ripped them out.

He had been unable to kill the Ratour because it protected its vital spots accurately.

As such, instead of killing it immediately, he thrust his spear hard enough to cause two deep injuries that bled severely.

Afterward, he relied on his team that continued to assault through long-range attacks such as fireballs and poison-coated arrows.

Yet, oddly enough the second batch of arrows that flew towards the Horned Earth Ratour consisted of a much higher number compared to the previous batch.

Even Nial was astonished, but he quickly sensed that they were enveloped in mana fluctuations of multiple people.

Amongst the mana fluctuations that enveloped arrows, he could also sense Shana's.

Because of that, he knew that the Originals that had been standing around and merely watching their battle as a bystander had finally begun to help them.

They might not support them in a close combat fight, but that was not necessary, to begin with.

Instead, it would end up being more of a nuisance if someone were to suddenly jump into the close combat fight Jack and Nial had with the Horned Earth Ratour.

However, that was currently not something Nial could afford to think about.

Rather, he charged towards the Horned Earth Ratour that had just turned towards Jack, only to sense the volley of around 10 arrows flying towards it.

Lifting both of its broad arms, the Ratour shielded its head from sustaining any serious damages.

Unfortunately, that was exactly what sealed the Horned Earth Ratour's fate because it was unable to react in time when Nial appeared right in front of it.

As its hands blocked its vision, it had no idea of Nial preparing himself to attack it. Its attention was drawn towards the poison it had been attacked with which was slowly wearing it out.

Its senses were blurred, and just as it lifted its arms that felt much heavier than a moment ago, it spotted Nial through its blurry eyes.

Though it tried to react in time, it was already too late, and it was at that moment that Nial thrust the Fang spear out again.

Yet, oddly enough, it didn't even notice anything when Nial's spear hit the Horned Earth Ratour's neck.

Even Jack could only stare at Nial in doubt, wondering what was going on, and why the Ratour, he had already assumed to be spurting a fountain of blood, was still standing on its feet.

However, what the others were missing was that the Fang spear's blade was retracted.

Thus, the moment the corner of Nial's lips curled upwards as he opened his mouth to say a single word, many things occurred at the same time.

First, he issued an order, while gritting his teeth.

"Die!".

It was followed by him overstraining his mana veins and mana core which had been forced to utilize the last traces of mana as he released the blade of the Fang spear without hesitation.

Following that, the Horned Earth Ratour's eyes widened, only for another fireball and volley of arrows to hit the Ratour, and almost hit Nial as well, whose body was suddenly covered in chills.

'Are they planning to kill me?!?' He suddenly wondered, as his grin died on his lips.

Retracting the Fang spear, he saw a fountain of blood gush out of the deep wound he had inflicted, but even if it was not an attack that had instantaneously killed the Horned Earth Ratour, it had died, nonetheless, owing to the combination of attacks that had assaulted it at the same time from multiple directions.

As such, when the Fang spear's blade was retracted, its head that had been resting on the blade buckled backward, followed by the entire body that fell on the ground.

Perceiving that the mana of the Horned Earth Ratour was quickly depleting, he presumed that it had died which made him take a relieved breath.

Suddenly, Jack appeared above the Ratour, slashing into the area of its heart, stabbing it over and over before the mana fluctuations had dispersed, leaving a dead corpse behind.

Just at that moment, the corpse disintegrated into countless particles, and it was not long after that the clanking sound of several origin crystals could be heard.

This was not surprising for any of them because it was expected for origin crystals to drop after the death of a boss monster.

However, it could be considered an astonishing fact that there was a different crystal among the few origin crystals that dropped.

It had a faint earthen touch to it, which Nial immediately noticed, while the others saw the brown discoloration.

Because of that, everyone became excited for a moment, but Jack simply picked all the crystals and threw the brown crystal toward Nial, while throwing the other origin crystals toward the other participants of the battle, one for each.

He kept one crystal for himself, and it was extremely fortunate that there were enough crystals for everyone because it would have been troublesome if one or two participants of the battle would have remained empty-handed.

While the others stared daggers at Nial because he got the unique crystal, he was baffled that Jack gave him the said crystal without even thinking twice about his decision.

This was truly astonishing, and when Jack saw Nial's expression he could only shrug his shoulders before he remarked.

"Don't frown like that. I just wanted to avoid trouble, and by far, you have the highest contribution in that battle, let alone braved a higher number of dangers you were exposed to than the rest of us! As such, the affinity crystal should obviously belong to you!"

Nial didn't move, but he thanked him before he gulped down one of the vials that had mana replenishing serum inside them.

historical

This allowed his mana to replenish at a much faster rate as long as he was not in combat.

Thus, he could use his mana to inspect and get to know what exactly the crystal truly was because Nial sensed something unique about it.

As such, he tried to keep a poker face, when he realized what kind of extraordinary crystal Jack had just thrown at him.

[Earth affinity(Comprehension)]

Keeping a straight face, Nial's first question was whether Jack knew what kind of crystal he had just thrown at him, or if he was oblivious to the fact that he had just given him a crystal worth more than everything either of the Originals inside the two-element dungeon had ever possessed in their life.

Based on Melvin's intel, he knew that the Lightning affinity with the [comprehension] tag was considered one of the strongest abilities one could bind to one's mana core as the first ability.

In the end, comprehension-based abilities and similar abilities that would continue to grow and improve along with one's understanding or strength were the most beneficial in the early stages of one's path to become stronger.

That was because one would have a devastating advantage the further one's strength improved.

Even Nial couldn't grasp how valuable the elemental crystal he was holding in his hand, truly was.

As such, he stored it away without dwelling on its value, because it would just distract him.

Just a moment later, the entire room began to overflow with an ominous feeling that was followed by strong mana currents, making all of them feel queasy.

As if that was not enough, a thunderous roar reverberated through the entire cave that began to violently tremble.

Oddly enough the roar sounded familiar to Nial, and after giving it another thought, he realized that it was the same sound he had heard when he and the young cadets of the military had been standing in front of the cavern entrance.

Recalling that moment, Nial wondered if the kids were doing fine, but just a moment later, his attention was dragged to the present as he looked around.

That was not possible owing to the fact that the cave didn't stop shaking even after the thunderous roar had stopped.

Rather, the tremors became stronger with each passing second.

Through this, the group of Originals realised that something bad must be happening and when the first of the numerous walls of the tunnel started to collapse, everyone understood that it was time to flee.

There was no time to even consider saving the other Originals that might still be imprisoned in the cave because they had to save themselves first.

Not only was the cave collapsing, but the sound of thousands of petrification rats' cry could be heard, followed by the ominous sensation that was dragged through the entire cave owing to the mana that permeated it in its entirety.

Combining all of it, they were truly at a disadvantage to even consider thinking about the lives of others because their own life was currently on the line!

Realizing this, everyone ignored their exhaustion, or their jealousy about Nial receiving the elemental crystal because they had to be alive in order to feel anything.

Even Nial, whose entire body felt as heavy as if it was made of lead and weighed a ton, ignored his exhaustion as he turned towards Jack who tried to keep his calm and announced,

"Let's leave!!"

Everybody was terror-stricken and was trying hard to appear calm, but Jack was the calmest amongst them, which was the reason why he was in charge of their group right now.

Meanwhile, Nial was just exhausted, and could barely use his senses and mana perception to understand what was happening.

His thoughts were still distracted by the elemental crystal, but that was something that had to wait for a moment.

Forcing himself to stand firmly on the ground, he shook his head to clear it and followed the others that were led out of the cave by Jack.

The young man who was around his age was still filled with vigor and it was almost as if he was completely unaffected by the fight they had just fought and won.

His breathing was steady and so were his mana fluctuations.

This made Nial wonder if Jack was simply holding back or if his Innate ability had improved his stamina regeneration.

That was a feasible possibility which made Nial wonder if his own ability would receive similar benefits once it improved.

Yet, instead of daydreaming about turning into an almighty existence, he forced himself to pay attention to survive the disaster unfolding around them.

Even if his mind wanted to distract him, and make him think about something else other than his possible death, it was becoming hard to do that.

His mind, against his orders, was doing a fine job of vividly painting a picture of his flesh being ripped apart by thousands of petrification rats or possibly even worse ways to die.

A scowl escaped his lips as he closed his eyes forcibly and opened them again to help himself focus on the surroundings.

Quickly following the others, he caught up to them, and it didn't take them long before they reached the intersection he and the three students had been previously at.

Because of that, Nial tried to focus his senses on one of the tunnels- the tunnel out of which the petrification rats should emerge.

It was the tunnel he and the others had left just a few hours ago after all.

As such, Nial looked at Jack, who didn't seem to know which of the few tunnels they had to choose.

Thus, he simply pointed at one of the tunnels while shouting Jack's name.

The young man saw his trembling hand which was a clear indicator of just how difficult it was for him to move.

However, even after seeing this, Jack couldn't do anything because the screeches of the petrification rats were becoming louder with each passing second.

Because of that, he nodded his head before rushing inside the tunnel Nial had pointed at, without bothering to question or inspect if that was the correct one or not.

Meanwhile, Nial took another serum that invigorated him and made his hand stop trembling.

His body was still aching and begging for rest but that was perfectly fine with him.

Instead, he was more concerned about Shana, who was also shivering as she arrived next to him.

Initially, he had wanted to go to her, but Shana moved before he did and Nial could only hear her blabber several things at once, making it hard for him to understand her.

"Why…do I have such a bad feeling..?"

"There was not a single treasure…just how can I help my sister…?!"

"Was the voice wrong when it told me that I'll find a solution to every question I seek an answer to??"

Her words made him want to ask several things at once instead of trying to calm her down first.

Neither did Nial understand what kind of treasure she wanted to find nor did he know what voice Shana was talking about.

However, in the end, he slowly comprehended why Shana had entered the dungeon.historical

'She thought that the dungeon would have a treasure that would bring her sister out of the coma…and a voice told her that?'

When he understood this, Nial's mind began to rattle, making him momentarily forget the chittering and squeals of the petrification rats that were slowly nearing them.

The question about why everyone entered the two-element dungeon was now solved by a simple theory he had come up with just now.

He assumed that the voice was something that came from the two-element dungeon, beckoning weaker Originals in the proximity of the dungeon portal to enter it upon its emergence.

From the looks of it, school had just ended during that time, and it made sense for some students to walk past the main alley that was not far away from the location of the two-element dungeon.

Thus the voice had reached the depth of the Originals' conscience promising them all kinds of treasures they were seeking, including a treasure that could help Shana's sister.

Nial felt that this was even more terrifying than anything else, because he had never heard about a dungeon, or beasts from within being able to speak to someone in their mind, let alone that it was possible for them to figure out their deepest desires.

Goosebumps spread over his entire body, and Nial could only continue running away from the collapsing walls, hoping that the voice was the most dangerous threat the two-element dungeon had.

Yet, it was at this moment that he sensed something that caused him to subconsciously slow down.

What he felt was distinctly transmuted light mana that filled the entire room they were inside in bright, blinding light.

It came from behind them, the direction where the petrification rats were charging toward them.

Normally, transmuted mana wouldn't be anything special and only indicate that it was different than neutral mana.

In most cases, the mana was just transmuted in the form of an affinity, which was supposed to be the case here too.

However, right now, the light transmuted mana dispelled Nial's fear of the petrification rats. His tension subsided, resulting in his speed slowing down.

At the same time, the others felt the same sensation envelop their entire being, making them believe that the petrification rats were not hostile towards them.

Yet, it was just as all of them slowed down that both Jack and Nial got out of their trance-like state, releasing that they had been affected by some sort of illusion.

In fact, the two of them didn't know what was going on, and Jack was still under some kind of spell, and it was just a fraction of a second later that his Innate ability had freed him from the misconception that everything was fine.

However, this fraction of a second was too late as he had cut himself with one of his daggers.

Afterward, he felt the pain coursing through his injured arm, but he somehow forced himself to keep going.

Meanwhile, Nial had been affected by the misconception, only for a short moment before everything seemed to change completely.

From sensing a trace of hope that radiated from the light affinity, everything changed to darkness.

It was almost as if the true and hidden intention of the bright light that was radiating from the entire two-element dungeon was unveiled, revealing that the trace of hope was misleading, and a misconception to turn their hope against themselves.

When Nial noticed this, he couldn't help but feel shocked, but his mind was still foggy owing to the effect the unknown was caused.

He presumed that it was the act of the beast summoned through the blood ritual but that was not something Nial could be sure of, for now.

Owing to the fact that the others had slowed down as well and his speed that had been less for a short period, Nial was able to sense that the petrification rats had already closed the gap and were almost in front of them.

As such, given the fact that his group was still severely affected, Nial could only do two things.

First, he stored the Fang Spear which he should have done before already, and secondly, he took out several grenades which he held in both of his hands.

Calling out Jack, who was the only one who had recovered from the eerie sensation, Nial threw a few grenades towards him as he shouted instructions at him.

"Insert mana into them to amplify their effects, but I guess you know how to use grenades as a cadet of the military. Let's leave this fucking place with everyone alive, alright?"

Smiling lightly, Nial was trying to encourage himself, holding onto the belief that everyone would survive.

Thus, only moments after he threw a few grenades toward Jack, he pulled the pin out of one of the grenades he had been holding.

Most of the grenades he had were flashbangs, but that was perfectly fine because they could be thrown one after another in rapid successions, and the loud noises they caused would hopefully pull the other Originals out of the effect the light transmuted mana caused.

With that hope in mind, he threw the grenade behind himself, while dragging Shana along whose speed continued to decrease.

And as expected, the moment the flashbang exploded, everyone was forcefully dragged out of the effect the light transmuted mana caused.

Shaking their heads, they looked around in confusion as fear and disbelief could be seen in their eyes about what they had been doing.

Regaining their senses, they immediately hastened their pace without any other warning or instruction.

They barely realized what had happened, but that was already more than enough for the Originals to be scared witless.

While they were on the run, their body began to tremble heavily, but with each flash grenade that detonated, they became more confident of their survival and escape from the nightmarish dungeon.

In fact, they were forced to shut their eyes tightly relying on their mana to perceive the surrounding area.

Through this they were able to hear and perceive that the beasts behind them were influenced by the bright shining light.

Not being proficient in relying on other senses like Nial, they collided with each other, and restricted one another, halting the advance of the petrification rats' flood.

This allowed Jack and Nial to throw more and more flashbang grenades behind them as explosions rocked the entire room, until theyslowed down their throwing speed in an attempt to lure the petrification rats to open their eyes, only for one of the two young men to throw another flashbang grenade.

The continuous assaults of the grenade injured most of the rats and only one of the beasts was able to pursue them without too many restrictions through the thinning crowd of petrification rats.

In fact, the beast Nial sensed had to run on its four legs in order to not hit the ceilings as it was simply too large, and was trampling the petrification rats under its feet as it pursued the humans.

Fortunately, the explosions caused by the flashbang grenades were still strong enough to slow it down, followed by decreasing its control over the light transmuted mana that had some unique type of effect.

As such, not much time passed, until two things happened at the same time.

First, they ran out of flashbang grenades, allowing the weird beast that must be the newly summoned monster, to use its light transmuted mana to the fullest while its speed also increased.

Secondly, they reached the next intersection which caused Nial to shout with all the remaining air left in his lungs.

"TAKE THE ONE IN YOUR FRONT!"

Yet, it was just at that moment Nial felt his entire being enveloped in an extremely distinct light transmuted mana, restricting his steps, forcing him to be glued to the spot.

However, instead of panicking or feeling helplessly stuck, he felt extremely calm, as if everything was how it was meant to be. This feeling only intensified when something weird originating from the Odyssey seed was released.

"You fucking ugly beast! Let go of me, RIGHT NOW!!"

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"...RIGHT NOW!!"

Just as Nial was done shouting in the direction of the huge being, the distinct light transmuted mana that had shackled him down disappeared.

It was almost as if the mana had never existed in the first place, but Nial didn't seem to realize this fact.

Instead, what Nial noticed was that his Odyssey seed pulsated just once, releasing the natural restrictions of his body, and allowing him to release every single bit of his strength at once.

At the same time, his control of the mana within his body, and perception of the immediate surroundings increased several times over, and by instinctively activating the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability, Nial could visualize everything in the room.

This change that happened out of nowhere should have shocked him, but Nial was eerily calm as his entire demeanor changed, making everyone believe that he was the overlord of the dungeon, instead of anyone else.

Upon seeing a human standing confidently in front of it and even dare speak to it, the huge being that had just been summoned halted in its tracks, forgetting the orders it had received for a quarter of a second.

Yet, it was just a moment later that it roared out, making the entire cave tremble, alongwith the deepest part of the Originals' conscience that had been unable to stop themselves from helping Nial.

Even Jack felt himself to be incapable of rescuing Nial, even though the young man had given his all to defeat the Horned Earth Ratour.

After all, everybody would prioritize their own lives over that of others and Jack was no exception to this no matter how much he liked Nial.

He hoped that Nial would survive, but the chances were nill…or so Jack thought.

Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to look back, guilt-ridden by the fact that he had left behind someone to die, someone with an even greater natural combat talent than he possessed.

Jack knew it very well that his combat prowess was mostly owed to his Innate ability and without it, he wasn't that good of a fighter.

Meanwhile, not only did Jack feel incapable of looking back, everyone else including Shana was unable to look back, let alone return and help Nial.

Their mind was shut off, and their body was just running away from the ghastly being that had been summoned, knowing that they had no other choice but to run as fast as possible and save themselves.

Being trapped in the cave for days had already shaken their confidence and even the slightest danger made them jumpy.

As such, when they spotted the summoned being, their survival instincts took over as they ran for their lives knowing that even a single glance backward could lead to their doom.

And that was not only the case because the petrification rats could petrify them, but also owing to their morale that was already crumbling.

Seeing the huge beast that looked like a cross between a four-armed ape and a rat from up close would be the final straw to make their morale shatter completely.

On the other hand, Shana was not sure why, but despite the fear that swept through her entire body, she was sure that nothing would happen to Nial.

There was no reason for her to think so, and it was close to insanity to believe that Nial, the blind young man, who was already struggling to stand on his feet after the overly exhausting fight with the Horned Earth Ratour, would be able to somehow escape the summoned beast unscathed, but Shana was sure of it!

Because of that, her mind was clearer than that of anyone else, sure that it would be a nuisance for Nial if she and the other Originals would be nearby because they would simply turn into a burden, instead of being of any help!

Yet, when some minutes passed in silence, Shana and the other Originals couldn't help but feel odd, and a few more minutes passed before they reached the surface and safety, which was much faster than any of them had expected.

Only then, Jack dare to look back and took a relieved breath to see that not a single petrification rat, let alone the huge gray furred beast had followed them.

Not only did they hear complete silence from the inside of the cave that had a giant beast and a large horde of petrification rats, but it was even weirder that not a single beast had followed them.

However, it was just at this moment, that the entire cave began to violently tremble again, followed by the ground below the Originals' feet that shook as well, before a gloomy and ominous aura began to emit from the ground all around them.

At the same time, the purest essence of darkness seemed to be released from the depths of the cave as everything turned dark, causing Jack to swallow nervously as his legs gave in the moment the aura came in touch with it.

Meanwhile, the others had already slumped to the ground, unable to stay conscious as they fainted on the wet ground, while fat raindrops poured on them.

Luckily, new military units entered the two-element dungeon that was sent as reinforcements, who felt their mana being drained at a rapid pace, the moment they stepped in.

It was followed by a dark, gloomy, and ominous aura that severely affected them.

Yet, they were able to handle the situation better and did not faint immediately, they were able to spot Jack, who was slowly losing his consciousness, followed by the others.

The military returned to the shelter with the Originals they rescued from the dungeon, leaving Nial and the beasts of the dungeon alone in the darkness….without actually realizing that he was still inside.

However, in fact, it was only Nial who was left alive, because he was the origin of the darkness that had been released.

The moment the Originals had left the tunnel he, the flood of petrification rats, and the huge summoned beast had been inside, many things changed.

First, Nial's entire body began to control the mana around him as if it was an extension of his arm, which made it possible for him to prevent any kind of mana-based attack directed at him.

One could also say that he even nullified the attacks that came from the huge beast, which realized that it had found a tough opponent.

Neither of the Originals would believe this fact if someone were to tell them as the summoned beast had overwhelmed all of them.

The Originals were not sure what rank it had attained, but it was certainly the strongest existence that inhabited the dungeon.

In fact, it should have never been able to enter the dungeon to begin with.

Yet, owing to the mission it had received, the beast was forced to do various tasks, irrespective of its will to perform them.

However, the moment Nial's Odyssey seed had pulsated for the first time, it and the petrification rats had sensed a unique presence that was radiated by Nial.

This was already enough for them to believe that they should leave him alone or risk their lives, and instead of acting rushed, ignoring their mission for the moment was the best they could do.

Thus, instead of letting its instincts overwhelm its mind, the huge beast used the little intelligence it had to stare at Nial in vigilance.

How could the beast know that this was exactly what would cause its own end, and that of the petrification rats as well as the Ratmen.

The few seconds of standstill gave Nial the necessary time to follow his instincts thoroughly.

He had no idea what he was currently doing and only knew that his body was moving of its own accord, as if it had acquired a mind of its own.

But, that was not the case for the Odyssey seed causing all of this.

It was also the Odyssey seed that was currently forcefully pulling every single trace of mana that was in the range of Nial's [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability towards him.

After being activated and amplified several times owing to the first pulse, the activated ability enveloped the entire room they were in, absorbing more than enough mana within a single second that something huge happened.

In fact, Nial's entire body was currently filled with mana, but every single particle was slowly moved towards the Odyssey seed that was fully prepared for the second step

As such it issued the second pulse, for the first time in Nial's life.

When it pulsated the second time, Nial felt as if his entire body was torn apart.

His pores had suddenly closed, preventing mana from entering his body.

But that was not the issue, because the darkness the Odyssey seed had released within Nial was unable to be released from his body!

Thus, he opened his pores without knowing how he did while a pained groan escaped his lips. Meanwhile, the beasts opposite him that were frozen in place just a moment before had started to act.

It was as if the darkness he released made them take action, and Nial knew why that was the case causing him to smile subtly as he pushed his feet off the ground.

This seemingly simple push towards the back allowed him to cross a distance of over ten meters, reaching a distance even the huge being required a second to catch up to.

Owing to that, the darkness his Odyssey had released got enough time to expand explosively and envelop Nial in a protective layer as it spread further, slowly encroaching forward and reaching the beasts that cried out in fear the moment the darkness aura reached them.

Nial was not sure what exactly he was feeling but it was certainly not an affinity as he had sensed one from the fire affinity wielder earlier, and his best friend was able to wield the lightning affinity.

And whatever he was feeling at the moment mirrored neither of them.

Because of that Nial was pretty sure that the darkness the Odyssey continued to release by draining the surroundings of its mana was something different to an affinity.

historical

It was more like the darkness was nothing but that…simply darkness.

Unable to sense anything about it, Nial, who was blind, couldn't even perceive it properly.

Because of that, he had to rely on his other senses to understand that the darkness was ice-cold, causing great pain to everyone who came in touch with it, with the sole exception being Nial, himself.

He was not sure what exactly this meant but owing to him being the origin of the darkness, he presumed to be immune to the effects it caused.

However, that was also not something Nial could be absolutely sure of.

In fact, the Odyssey seed was something that didn't belong to him, in the first place!

Nial was certain that the Odyssey seed was something that had been forced upon him when he was three years old and had been trapped inside the dungeon that had held him for an entire week, only to release him afterward.

No matter how hard he tried, the memories of that fateful week eluded him which is why Nial couldn't be sure of anything.

However, after considering that his mana senses had been sealed off and that the Goddess' energy was what had been required to awaken his origin and the Odyssey seed, he became even more confused.

Everything was questionable, including the second time the Odyssey seed had pulsated.

Neither did he know what requirements he had to meet in order to make the Odyssey seed pulsate, or what functions these pulses had, let alone if they were harmful if they occurred too often.

His knowledge about this was simply abysmal, but all of this took a backseat when compared to the rather astonishing realization that he could control the darkness and that it changed according to his will.

Feeling the unparalleled power in his grasp made him feel euphoric and the beasts began to sense that Nial was slowly comprehending how to wield the power.

As such, they wanted to attack him, but it was just a moment later that Nial lifted his hand, which caused the entire darkness to shoot in the direction of the huge beast and the petrification rats.

Nial had to simply think about what he wanted to do, but that caused his mind to feel like it was being pulled apart in opposite directions, which was not a great feeling.

It was at this moment that Nial realized that his mind and body were not prepared for the Odyssey seed or any of the functions it caused.

Rather, Nial was scared about the issues the Odyssey seed could cause just after he had awoken his origin a few weeks ago.

Yet, just at the moment, he was distracted, Nial perceived that the huge beast was devoured by the darkness that swallowed it whole, killing it mercilessly as it struggled in vain to save itself while being deprived of every single trace of mana within seconds.

Meanwhile, a large crystal dropped from its body that dispersed into countless particles, nurturing the darkness that expanded all of a sudden, devouring the remaining petrification rats that had been paralyzed with fear and thus were easy prey to the ever-increasing darkness.

As they were being devoured, the rats supplied the darkness with enough energy to expand further and further, and the power Nial gained all of a sudden, made his senses go numb as he seemed to blank out.

As such, he hardly noticed that the cave was collapsing.

However, it was just at this moment when the Odyssey seed stopped releasing more darkness.

On the contrary, everything was retracted in a matter of seconds, leaving behind the corpses of thousands of mana drained beasts, and hundreds of origin crystals!

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After regaining his senses, the memories of the past few minutes flashed through his mind.

Everything felt blurry to Nial and he had trouble recalling everything he had done in the past few hours.

To be precise, even the memories that flashed through his mind were somewhat unclear to him, and Nial doubted that he was the one to do all of this.

Yet, when he stressed his brain to recall the missing pieces, he could remember nothing that had occurred after he had felt the second pulse.

He knew that he had done something but not what or why.

This confused him, but before he could spend time thinking about it, Nia's attention went to the corpses of thousands of beasts that were wrung dry of every last ounce of mana and left to rot on the ground.

Their bodies that were void of mana were outlined by the subtle mana currents that filled the room once again.

As such, he was able to perceive his surroundings, which allowed Nial to sense and pick up the crystals that had dropped from the numerous opponents.

In fact, there were more than a hundred origin crystals, one more [Petrification Eyes(poorest)] ability crystal, and the special crystal that had dropped from the summoned beast.

Storing all crystals away except the special one, Nial tried to inspect it through touch in an attempt to figure out if there were any kinds of dangers he had to be careful of.

Meanwhile, he was walking back to the surface without realizing that the cave was collapsing.

His mind was drawn to the crystal he was holding, and only when he reached the surface did Nial dare to insert his mana into it.

It was just a moment later that four words reverberated through his mind, causing him to feel utterly dumbfounded.

[Mana core limit enhancement]

First, he didn't believe what he had heard, but after the words flashed through his mind over and over again, Nial could barely digest that what he was hearing was true.

However, this confused him because he had never heard that it was possible for a crystal such as the one he was holding in his hand, to exist, in the first place.

'Is…that a new type of crystal? Or did I just not know about it?' Nial wondered while tormenting his mind for an answer which never came.

Yet, he didn't make the mistake of throwing the crystal away or even thinking of selling it as he thought that he had more than enough resources to sell in order to rescue his sister.

With that in mind, he smiled lightly as he accepted the energy of the crystal without hesitation.

Just at that moment, the vast amount of energy that was stored in the special crystal shot through his arms before it arrived in front of his mana core.

It invaded his body and his mana core, metamorphosing his core while causing tremendous pain.

This was something Nial had expected, but it was just at this moment that his entire body felt like it was zapped by a bolt of lightning as the overstrained muscles, mana veins and even his mana core were reacting to the additional strain he was putting on his body by accepting the crystal's energy.

Through this, his entire body went rigid as a stone, and he could feel his brain becoming fuzzy as his eyes grew heavy. He was slowly losing his consciousness and the last thing he could think was a simple thought.

'Why am I so fucking restless?!'

Afterward, he lost his consciousness, but fortunately enough, his body had taken the last step before he arrived in front of the dungeon portal through which his unconscious body fell to the ground with a soft thud.

No sooner had he slumped to the ground, face down, weapons were pointed in his direction by several soldiers that were ready to slaughter him.

Yet, only a moment later, the dungeon portal behind him closed because the dungeon had been cleared by Nial, and every single boss had been defeated.

This shocked everyone and the soldiers quickly retracted their weapons as a familiar woman, who had been standing next to a familiar young man stepped forward.

"It…really is him…" She just mumbled before turning around to Jack, who stared at the unconscious Nial in shock as if he was seeing a ghost…or someone who should have died.

As her eyes flicked from the unconscious Nial to Jack, the young woman named Nina Melion couldn't help but smile.

Her cadets had long since returned, but they had been severely injured after encountering the first group of petrification rats.

Yet, the young blind man, whom they had ridiculed before, had achieved something, not even the trained military units had been able to do.

Single-handedly he had not only helped several students to survive an attack by a large petrification group, but he had also helped Jack and his unit to defeat the Horned Earth Ratour.

However, that was not all because even though he was currently unconscious, Nial had evidently survived the onslaught of a petrification rat flood and the huge beast that Jack described as powerful enough to annihilate every possible prodigious human they could have sent inside!

The fact that Nial survived without anyone's help, while facing more than a thousand weaker opponents, and one seemingly undefeatable force all by himself, spoke volumes about the hidden talent he had!

And that was even more so the case when the dungeon closed behind him, which meant that he had cleared the two-element dungeon that had forced the entire military in the small shelter to gather the strongest junior units!

They had just finished their preparations to conquer the dungeon and had barely taken their first step when the scouts returned from the dungeon portal, with the collapsed survivors right next to them.

Only Jack was still conscious, and he had readily told Nina, who was currently in charge of most juniors of the military, everything that happened.

Thus, she knew about Nial's combat prowess, the fact that Jack regarded him highly, and that he should have died but miraculously he was just passed out.

As such, she first sent him to the infirmary before calling the Originals association to cross-check the information of Nial's awakening once again.

There had to be something wrong, and she wanted to figure out what exactly it was!

However, even after she read through the information, there was nothing odd that she could find out.

This only approved Jack's information about the fact that Nial had yet to bind an ability to his mana core.

Yet, even then, Nina was unable to think that Nial had simply survived using just his combat skills and common sense.

As such, she told the nurses to conduct a second test on his mana core.

When they ran the test they could spot slight changes of his mana core, but nobody was able to figure out what exactly they were.

Nonetheless, there was still no ability bound to the core, which caused Nina to be even more confused as the changes in Nial's mana core seemed to be similar to breaking through one's mana core limit.historical

Yet, right now, Nial was not undergoing his mana core's first enlarging process, but it was more like the limit of enlargings he could undergo was changing.

At least that was what the results of the examination the nurses and doctor that were present in the quickly constructed infirmary had figured out.

This was weird, and a natural breakthrough in one's mana core limit was unheard of.

As such, he would have to take some kind of medicine, which caused Nina to look at his spatial ring in doubt.

'Blacksmith Arnold doesn't have the means to procure a medicine that allows the mana core's limit to enlarge naturally…otherwise, he would have given it to his eldest daughter. He shouldn't be in possession of a forbidden serum either...the dealers haven't reached Katu yet…'

Trying to figure out the answer about Nial's survival, Nina could only reach the conclusion that Jack was lying to her.

However, that was close to impossible because Jack knew that the others would be able to tell the truth once they regained their consciousness.

Thus, it was unlikely for Jack to lie, even less because she knew him to be an honest, and straightforward man.

This made him very likable even if some younger cadets made fun of him for having awoken his origin quite late.

Fortunately, this was something Jack made up for with hard work and the fact that he had awoken an Innate ability that increased his strength by a large margin.

He was amongst the strongest young cadets Nina had trained so far, and his evaluation of opponents was shockingly accurate, which was also owed to his Innate trait that enhanced his instincts.

Because of that, Nina couldn't help but do something she never believed herself to do- she blatantly ignored the military's laws for the first time in her life.

In fact, the only thing Nina did was to satiate her curiosity by adding Nial's contacts to her Originals ID card in order to contact Nial whenever she wanted.

She believed that this was something she would soon do either way once the higher-ups would find out about Nial, a blind young man who had cleared an anomalistic dungeon by himself, while being at the 1st Origin rank, without an ability and just had awoken his origin a few weeks ago!

Nial didn't even have a high standing in the society or any connections…or so Nina thought, which made her believe that he might be the perfect candidate for the military.

'If..only if he truly managed to defeat the beast Jack spoke about…he might be able to enter the military!'

This thought caused her to smile subconsciously because it was rare for someone with a disability to be able to enter the military in the first place. Furthermore, most of these people awoke an innate affinity that made use of their disability, turning their weakness into a major strength.

Through this their disadvantage was turned into an advantage, but even then most of these individuals belonged to families with a great heritage.

As such, Nial was an exception and owing to the military's conservative behavior, they might think that Nial's blindness might be too much of a disadvantage as he didn't have something that would balance out this weakness.

Because of that, even his high combat prowess might not be enough to change their opinion.

With that in mind, Nina could only wait before the other Originals woke up.

When they finally did, they were bombarded with all kinds of questions about the two-element dungeons, and everyone said the same thing- Nial saved them, he fought on par with Jack, and reacted even faster once to save them from the ape rat's attack.

However, in the end, everyone also said that he must be dead, and that there was no way for him to have survived the flood of several thousand petrification rats and the huge beast.

As everyone said the same thing, they were allowed to leave once they had undergone the necessary examinations and tests to check their injuries and overall health.

Most of them were taken home by their parents and other family members that had already been waiting in front of the barricades the military had put up.

Thus, when Nina saw blacksmith Arnold and Shana reuniting, she couldn't help but approach them, asking the blacksmith why he had asked Nial to enter the two-element dungeon to search for his daughter.

The request of blacksmith Arnold to send a blind newly awakened Original to the two-element dungeon was something she had recalled just now, which was both extremely weird and unheard of, to begin with.

Adding the dangers of the dungeon to the mix, Nial was destined to die.

As such, Nina felt obliged to ask the blacksmith about his reasoning.

However, Arnold was unable to give her a rational answer. Instead, when he found out that Nial was the reason for the survival of most Originals, including his dear daughter, he was as astonished as everyone else. Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he mumbled faintly to himself.

"To think that my intuition was correct…"

He had long since realized that it was pure madness to send someone like Nial inside the two-element dungeon, but that this madness had saved the lives of more than a hundred Originals was truly bewildering.

Yet, he also understood that this decision could have caused Nial's death, even more so after he heard how dangerous the dungeon had truly been.

'And I told Nial that there were only a few hundred petrification rats…It doesn't look like I simply used up the favor he owed me, but almost sent him to death's door…don't I owe him a favor now…?'

Confused, blacksmith Arnold went home with his daughter, who was bombarded with the information of everything that happened inside the two-element dungeon.

Meanwhile, Nina was still wondering about what exactly had been wrong with Nial, only for a young familiar man to appear in front of her.

His expression was filled with worry, and guilt and his face looked haggard.

'Isn't that Nial's friend? The one from the Tyr family?'

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After waking up, Nial felt as if his entire body had been torn apart, which caused a faint smile to emerge on his face.historical

Pain indicated that he was still alive, and being able to sense every single muscle that ached horribly when he tried to move, sending jolts of unbearable pain through his entire body was similarly reassuring because it meant that he wasn't missing out on anything.

When he tried to move,a fresh bolt of pain shot through his body, hitting his brain and making him see stars in broad daylight, but instead of slowing down, he continued to lift his upper body at the same pace.

Sensing that his body was barely coping with that burden, his smile widened.

At least, all his limbs and organs were intact though they hurt a lot, which was oddly reassuring.

As he struggled to get in a sitting position, he heard the voice of someone familiar, which caused him to turn his head as he mumbled with all the strength he had.

"Mel..vin? What..are..you doing here?"

Nial was confused because his mana perception allowed him to visualize a simple tent and that he was inside it, with a few other injured Originals.

As such, he believed that he was in the infirmary that should have been built near the two-element dungeon.

Thus, Nial couldn't help but feel that it was weird for Melvin to know where he was and come looking for him. There was nobody who could have informed his friend about him being in the two-element dungeon, after all.

This was already odd, but when he didn't hear a reply from his friend he grew even more suspicious as Melvin was one of the most talkative people he knew of.

In the end, it took Melvin only a few more moments to say something, yet, the moment Nial heard his friend's sobbing, and guilt-ridden voice, he knew that something was terribly wrong!

"Nial...I'm so sorry…"

Melvin said only four words but just as he finished his words, he threw himself on the ground, burying his head in his hands before continuing to repeat the same words over and over again- "I'm sorry."

After perceiving the state in which Melvin was alongwith his apology rendered Nial was speechless for a moment and it was as if his breath hitched in his throat.

Momentarily forgetting about his injuries, Nial moved his body hastily as he jumped up from the bed he had been lying on.

A moment later the astonished sounds of the nurses that came rushing towards him could be heard.

"Sir, please lay down!! You will collapse if you move too much! Your body is already on the brink of breaking apart!"

"Please calm down Sir!!"

Yet, Nial couldn't hear anything they said as his entire focus was on Melvin as he asked him in a silent but ice-cold tone.

"What happened?"

It was as if Nial knew what was going on. The premonition that had been eating at him and making him feel that something was off ever since he had entered the two-element dungeon had yet to disappear.

Contrary to his earlier beleif, it was only becoming stronger as if it had nothing to do with the two-element dungeon, to begin with, which was even strange.

His head was brimming with multiple thoughts, and his muscles groaned with every move, but Nial couldn't care less because Melvin was not answering him, worsening the dread that was filling his heart.

This caused him to move a step ahead as he grasped Melvin's collar, lifting him on his feet before he asked once again.

"What happened?!!"

However, this time, his voice was filled with anger, and a portion of the few remnants of the darkness that hadn't been stored inside the Odyssey seed were subconsciously released from his body.

Owing to this, Nial's entire demeanor changed, and soldiers from outside the tent came rushing inside, armed with weapons and prepared to fight a battle of life and death if that was necessary to protect the citizens inside the tent.

Yet, what they saw was a young blind man, who was on tenterhooks, grasping the collar of a sobbing young man, who didn't even try to defend himself a tiny bit.

"They…they…took Sabrina and your parents…." Melvin only said before he bit his lower lip so hard that it started to bleed.

A moment later, he felt Nial's grasp around his collar loosen while the unique presence he had released disappeared.

Stumbling backward, Nial almost fell to the ground, but was saved from the fall when his back hit the bed behind him.

When that happened, the nurses regained their senses before they rushed toward Nial to help him get back on the bed, while only one soldier remained inside the tent, silently observing the situation, and ready to intervene if something were to happen.

However, there was only one more question that the young blind man asked, causing everyone's attention to be pulled towards Melvin, whose blood and tears were mixing together as they trickled to the ground.

"...and what do you have to do with that?!?"

Nial's voice was weak, and hoarse, and it was only a matter of time before he would lose his consciousness once again.

Yet, the last thing Nial heard was Melvin apologizing once again,

"I…It…was my fault…I'm so sorry… When I found ou-..."

Even if he wanted to, his body defied his orders and dragged him back to unconsciousness, as the nurses barely managed to lift and put him to the bed again, before a doctor rushed inside the moment he heard the commotion.

Yet, upon seeing the scene of more than a dozen people staring at a sobbing young man, who stood right in front of an unconscious youth, there was no way of figuring out what the hell had happened.

[Several days later*

Regaining his consciousness, Nial found himself lying in a cozy bed and a room that was void of sounds. He could smell a distinct aromatic scent that invigorated his body.

However, Nial's heart and body felt empty, as if it had been drained off every last ounce of energy to live.

Unfortunately, even this was not enough to make him sink into a deep slumber.

His pained body was full of vigor, while his mind had regained the energy it required to work relentlessly, preventing him from slinking into unconsciousness to forget about his worries.

Rather, the energy coursing through his body caused him to think back on the moments before he lost his consciousness for the second time.

Fortunately, it was at this moment that he heard an old voice that sounded somewhat familiar from the end of the room as the sound of a door opening accompanied it.

"Sir, you are finally awake! Please don't move too much, and rest a little! "

After instinctively releasing his mana, Nial quickly figured where he was and who the old man that spoke to him was.

It was the butler of the Tyr family, who had threatened him and his family, years ago, in their own house to prevent the slightest possibility of them ever trying to exploit the Tyr family through Melvin.

As such, Nial could tell that he was in the Tyr family's mansion, which caused a mixture of emotions to wreak havoc within him.

Without thinking too much, he took out his old, battered phone that looked like it would crumble to pieces any moment as he dialled his parents' numbers, one after another.

Afterward, he tried to call home, but nobody answered him.

This didn't mean that his parents had been taken away, but considering Melvin's reaction and repeated apologies, it was unlikely to be a lie.

Trying to make sense of the situation, Nial felt anger surging within him, and he wanted to get up from the bed in order to go home and see for himself before harassing Melvin to tell him about what had truly happened.

Yet, before he could do anything, the butler stood up as he said,

"I'm sorry, Sir. But please stay in the bed… If necessary, I will call for the young Lord, or I can tell you everything you want to know…"

Hearing pity in the voice of the butler caused Nial to stiffen as the dread that had filled his heart was beginning to constrict his chest.

The butler continued to look at him with pitiful eyes, and Nial felt as if it was suddenly difficult for him to breath as he was forced to accept that everything Melvin had said might truly be the case.

Even if he was not sure if he could trust the butler's words, Nial was unable to stop himself from asking in a shaky voice.

"Is...it true? Was my family forcefully taken away?... By whom?...Why?...Where?... Just what happened?"

The dread turned into hopelessness that found its way out of his eyes in the form of tears that began to trickle down his cheeks, and even though the butler saw this, he didn't move.

Instead, he told Nial everything he had personally witnessed from the moment Melvin had stormed inside his father's office, up to the moment when the robed men had forced Melvin and his father to lead them to Nial's house.

Afterward, the butler relayed whatever his master and Melvin's father had told him, including how miserable Melvin had felt, and that the young master had disappeared in his room for several days, only to storm outside the moment he had heard about Nial having entered the two element dungeon and that he had returned.

In the end, the story was nothing grand, but it was more than enough to knock out Nial, and making him go numb with shock as his brain seemed to have lost the ability to function for a while.

It was almost as if his entire mind had been blown away, and he couldn't make sense of anything, but the fact that he was truly alone and that his family was taken to some unknown place.

Calling his parents over and over to receive no response before he rushed to his empty house would be the last and finally evidence that he was truly alone, without anyone left by his side.

Holding his head that began to ache owing to the information and thoughts that flashed through his mind, he didn't even hear the soft footsteps of another man entering the room, and it was only when Nial was able to regain his senses that he repeated one more question he had previously asked.

"Where…have they been taken to…do you know that?"

Yet, instead of hearing the answer to this question from the butler, he heard the unexpected voice of a middle-aged man.

It would have astonished Nial under normal circumstances, but he was astonished about how calm and completely unbothered he was about the person who answered, as only the content of the answer was important to him.

"They were taken as captives and whisked away to Liondra, the strongest shelter of mankind! Why? You might ask us that, but neither I nor Melvin has the faintest idea about that.

We can only tell you everything we know, and I can reassure you that your family has not been killed. This shouldn't happen in the future, either!

Rather, I believe they would receive the best treatment because the Eclipse Assassins that belong to the Heaven's Gates organization wouldn't waste their time taking in someone who isn't useful to them.

Instead, your parents would have been killed if they were only in need of your sister! Because of that, you can be confident that your family is doing fine!"

Nial was still not sure who the hell was speaking to him.

A sudden fear emerged in his mind and only questions flashed through his mind.

"What is this Heaven's Gates…and who in hell's name are the Eclipse Assassins?!"

Yet just as he asked this question out loud, his mind had begun churning out a completely different plan which would be initiated once he knew the answer to a different question.

'What is the fastest way to reach my family?!'

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Nial was still not sure what to believe, and what to discard as lies.

In fact, he assumed that Serl Tyr, Melvin's father, was speaking to him, but it didn't make the situation any better.

Instead, it clearly told Nial that the situation was complicated enough for Serl Tyr to personally explain everything to him, and the next words said by the middle-aged man made the situation even worse.

"I...don't really know what to tell you, Nial...but I'm truly sorry for what happened to you. Nevertheless, I hope you won't be too harsh on my son. He didn't take away your family intentionally, and everything was an accident.

I believe you must have realized this yourself after listening to James!"

Nial's assumption that it was indeed Serl Tyr who was speaking to him was now proven, but he felt as if someone had punched him in his gut because one of the wealthiest person in Katu was apologising to him, pleading him to forgive his son.

An awkward silence filled the room after this, and Nial's mind turned blank for a moment, not sure what to think about everything that had happened.

Yet, after a short moment of silence, Serl Tyr decided that enough time had passed for the young blind man to simply sit on the bed and dwell in misery.

"Nial, I do understand that you are currently feeling overwhelmed, and angry at Melvin, but I want to tell you a few things. Listen to me, will you!?"

Saying so, Serl Tyr approached Nial and held him by the shoulder before he repeated something that Nial had already heard several times.

"Remember, your family is still alive!! They're not dead or anything like that, and if you ever want to meet them again, you have to buckle up. If you just sit with that blank look on your face, you would make others feel miserable as well.

Furthermore, for your information, I should add that your sister, Sabrina, would have died in a few days, at most, if the Eclipse Assassins wouldn't have taken her away!

This is obviously something the two robed men from the Eclipse Assassins told me, but I believe that this is the truth, so don't be too harsh on yourself or Melvin… you guys did nothing wrong!

Both of you have just awoken your origins, and nobody expected you two to change this little girl's inevitable fate, to begin with.

In the end, it was a great coincidence that the Eclipse Assassins found them, even if you don't like the fact…or would you have rather let your parents despair because they wouldn't be able to help your sister and end her suffering…or possibly mourn her death when you were in the two-element dungeon?!?"

Serl Tyr's words were harsh but he had spoken the bitter truth. Nial bit on his lower lip, while clenching his fists to the extent that his fingernails dug into his palms. He wasn't even aware of droplets of blood trickling to the ground as he said in an annoyed voice, "Of course I don't want that to happen…"

Even though Nial could grasp that it was best for his sister to be taken to a place where her diseases would be cured, and it was even better that his parents could take care of Sabrina, he didn't like the fact that they were taken away from him.

How was he supposed to trust the Eclipse Assassins, the Heaven's Gates organization or whatever kind of organization had taken them away from him when he knew nothing about them?

At first, he had been shocked that he was suddenly left all alone, but that didn't bother him all that much anymore.

Instead, what was more important to know was if his family was truly doing fine, or if everything was just a big bubble of a lie.

"Is…it possible for me to reach my family somehow?" He thus asked after having sorted his thoughts and emotions and forced himself to think rationally.

Yet, the moment when Nial sensed the butler's stiffening mana fluctuations, he already knew what he was going to hear as Serl Tyr answered.

"To be honest, the fact that we told you about the Eclipse Assassins and the fact that they took your sister and parents with them is already enough reason for all of us to be executed!

So…the moment you try to call the Eclipse Assassins headquarters thinking that you will get to talk to your family, my entire family will be killed."

To say that Nial was shocked was an understatement as he could not understand why the Head of the Tyr family told him something so secretive then.

Despite this earlier thought, Nial quickly understood what Serl Tyr had tried to do as he recalled how Melvin had reacted when they had encountered each other in the infirmary.

"Does that mean, you're currently just trying to salvage the damage Melvin caused?" Nial asked, hitting the bullseye as Serl simply nodded his head before explaining further,

"The fact that Melvin almost exposed everything while trying to apologize to you inside the infirmary, while being surrounded by soldiers was not really smart.

As such, I decided that it would be best to provide you with all the information you want, so as to avoid a repeat incident wherein my family, and even you could die needlessly.

In the end, with the pieces of information, I can give you, it might even be possible to set up a plan to look for your family.

After all, I can use my connections to help you reach closer to Liondra. It might be a little bit difficult to reach Liondra because I don't have enough connections to enter the strongest, but also the most dangerous shelter right now, but… you can make use of me!"

Serl Tyr's offer sounded nice, but instead of feeling overjoyed, or thankful, Nial felt weird.

His white, lifeless eyes stared at the middle-aged man.

Knowing what Serl Tyr had indirectly stated, Nial asked him bluntly,

"However, in that case, I would have to trust you, and you'll be in lots of trouble too…to the extent that it might even be better for you to get rid of me, isn't that the case?"

Even if Serl Tyr sounded as if he was kind, Nial could clearly visualize what type of person Melvin's father was- a true businessman who weighed his profits and losses before committing anything.

That might not be the entire truth because Melvin seemed to be important enough for Serl to cause him to forget thinking rationally, but Nial was not Melvin, as such Serl Tyr had no obligation to help his friend.

As such, there was no way for him to completely trust Serl, which caused him to stand up as he picked up the equipment that lay next to his bed.

In fact, the moment Nial picked up the spatial ring that was lying on the leather armor, he sensed that both the Viper spear and Fang spear were inside it along with a small note below the spatial ring., Serl Tyr found the perfect opportunity to avoid the topic about 'getting rid of someone' as he remarked,

"I didn't expect you to have a connection to Arnold, but he seemed to be thankful."

Nodding his head, Nial used his mana perception to read the message, while trying to clear his mind and ignoring Serl Tyr's offer.

[Take everything. Thank you for saving my daughter. I owe big time!]

Yet, even after reading through the message, neither his emotions nor his facial expression changed as he couldn't care less about the content of the message.

It was great that he was allowed to keep the spatial ring, the Fang spear, and all the serums inside the spatial ring, but he would rather have his family back or spend even one more day with them than have these treasures.

Sighing deeply, he turned towards Serl Tyr as he asked,

"Where is Melvin?"

There were many reasons for him to meet Melvin again, and the most important was to figure out if he was truly sorry for what he did, or not.

Yet, even without asking Melvin anything, Nial knew the answer. As such he didn't feel as if it was necessary to make him feel more guilty.

Instead, Nial felt that both he and Melvin had to do something in order to clear their mind and emotions.

Thus, he followed the butler and Serl towards Melvin's room which was locked from the inside.

Serl hoped that Nial would accept the apology of his son, and himself, but what happened just a moment later was something he didn't expect.

"Yoo, Melvin, I'm awake! Fight with me!!!"

Nial didn't even think of accepting Serl Tyr's offer because that meant he had to rely on someone he couldn't trust, which was the worst thing one could do. And even if Serl was someone trustworthy, what use were the merchant's connections if he could not even reach Liondra with them?

And would anyone in Liondra even listen to him..a blind nobody, who had just awoken his origin?

Certainly not!

Appearing in front of some organisation's headquarters and banging on their doors to let him meet his family that was most likely hidden away, was also not something he could do even if he somehow reached Liondra.

Because of that, Nial knew that he had to clear his mind of blaming Melvin and thinking that his friend was at fault for everything.

In the end, it might as well be a blessing in disguise that Melvin had accidentally informed the robed men of the Eclipse Assassins about Sabrina's existence.

She might have died otherwise already…

With that thought in mind, he wanted to fight and train with his best friend once more before trying to come up with a way to enter Liondra and reunite his family!

In the end, the situation was just messed up, and the more time passed, the less fault could Nial find in his friend's decision.

He couldn't thank Melvin for what he did either, but the faint chance that his sister might already be cured of her disease was more than enough to forgive Melvin for his unintentional mistake.

Yet, all of this seemed to be insignificant, when he sensed the weak mana fluctuations of Melvin from behind the closed door. He approached the door, and unlocked it, as he opened the door of his room.

At this moment a pungent smell hit him, causing Nial to wrinkle his nose as he couldn't help but ask.

"What…the hell have you been doing for the last few days?"

His question was void of any emotions, and the situation turned awkward because Melvin simply stayed silent and didn't give him an answer.

Only now did Nial get more time to evaluate the state in which Melvin was currently in.

Not having eaten, slept or moved his body for the last few days, Melvin couldn't be considered to be more dead than alive as if he had given up on himself.

This made Nial angry, to the extent that he couldn't help but shout at Melvin.

"What the hell are you doing Melvin??? What makes you think acting like a loser just because of a mistake you did would solve everything? Are you some sort of perfect machine, or what? You are a human and making mistakes is what makes you that- a human.

However, I never expected you to be someone who acts like a loser and give up after making a mistake, instead of trying to fix the mistake you did?!?

Fuck you! Did you ever consider us to be friends, to begin with, or was everything a joke to you?!?!"historical

Gasping for air, Nial wanted to continue lecturing Melvin, venting out his frustration on him for acting like a victim, and a moron who couldn't even take the burden of making a single mistake.

Yet, before he was utter another word, Melvin had already rushed up to him, grasping his shoulders as he shouted.

"THEN WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?!?"

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"THEN WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?!?"

The desperation in Melvin's voice reverberated through Nial's entire being as he shook him hard.

It made Nial feel incapable of saying a single word for a few moments after hearing Melvin's loud exclamation that was filled with guilt and hurt. It made him overcome the biggest obstacle he had to face until now- himself and his emotions that had wreaked havoc in his heart.

"You…weren't supposed to do anything, but to fight for those you like and love. After making a mistake you should fix it, or apologize to the people you hurt.

I don't care if you hurt me, but what about the rest of my family…have you apologized to them yet? No, you haven't…so how about you start, right there!"

Nial tried his best to stay calm and rational but rationality was something he had lost ever since he found out that his family was not with him anymore.

Emotions had already overwhelmed him, which was also the reason why he pushed away his friend's arms before he remarked,

"If you are not a pushover and truly sorry for what you did, show me your resolve. If you're just empty talk, never show your face to me!"

For his own good, and that of Melvin, Nial felt that they had to fight against each other with all they got.

It was useless if he were to fight against someone who had given up on himself because that would mean he would punch a lifeless sandbag.historical

Clearly showing his determination to fight Melvin and train harder, Nial had made his stance clear- either give your best, or be a pushover and let's never meet each other again!

If Melvin was truly giving up on himself, then Nial doubted if he had ever known anything about his friend.

As such, he was gambling on the fact that Melvin would accept his challenge, which was exactly what happened.

Both were still not sure how they should feel about each other because the entire situation was too messed up.

However, even then, Nial was unwilling to let go of his friend, even if he was disappointed with his best friend's naivety.

But there was no point thinking about the past, and as long as his family was doing fine, he should be thankful to Melvin, instead of hating him.

As such, he had come to the decision that he had to forgive Melvin for everything he had done, which, however, didn't mean that he would accept how his friend was treating himself.

This was something unforgivable to do to oneself, and Nial decided to take matters into his own hands because it looked like Melvin couldn't forgive himself for what he had inadvertently done more than anything else.

In the end, he had come to terms with the fact that his family was safe and not in immediate danger.

Nial might have lost contact with his family for the time being, but the longer he thought about it, the better it was that they were with Sabrina. He would do fine without anyone's help but his sister definitely needed them.

At least now he could learn to live independently, and it wouldn't be a problem for him to conquer all kinds of dungeons as long as he continued to improve his mana perception.

The limit of his mana core had also increased, which meant that his potential had been artificially heightened as well.

Nial felt that this was something great, but at the same time, he was not sure how exactly he should feel about the situation. Thus, he was trying to look at the brighter side and cheer himself up.

Furthermore, he was far from being as poor as only a few weeks ago, where he didn't even have a graded weapon.

Because of that, he had more than enough means to become stronger in a short time as nothing was holding him back.

On the contrary, Nial had enough reason to work even harder than ever before, because he wanted to meet his family once again.

And, in order to achieve this, he required strength, wealth, and connections that were even better than Serl Tyr's to allow him to fulfill his true goal-meeting and rescuing his family.

This would be hard to achieve on his own, which was why he had hoped that Melvin would help him.

Unable to control his anger once again, Nial approached his friend before grasping his smelly shirt by the collar as he turned towards the dumbfounded butler.

"Where is the bathroom?? Can you bring some new clothes, his armor and weapon, several healing reagents, highly nutritious food… ah.. and I need to know where the combat room is!

The Tyr family has one, don't they?"

He simply bombarded the butler with a lot of orders not caring about the fact that the Master of the house was standing right next to the butler.

Yet, instead of commenting anything, Serl remained quiet, which allowed him to do as he pleased, which was exactly what Nial did.

He had already figured out that Melvin's father wanted him to drag his son out of the miserable state he was in because that was not something Serl Tyr was capable of.

In fact, Serl Tyr had tried to convince his son that the entire situation was not his fault, but it had been a futile effort.

Thus, after seeing how Nial was bossing his son around, a small smile crept up his lips as if his plan had worked out in a perfect manner.

Nodding his head at the butler to signal him to do as Nial asked, there was no hesitation in the eyes of the old man anymore as he rushed outside the room to lead him to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Serl followed Nial, who dragged his son along with him, making it look like the young blind youth was the owner of a dog that was unwilling to move anymore.

Yet, Melvin allowed Nial to do whatever he pleased, and only half an hour later, he was done bathing. Nial couldn't believe that Melvin had hit such a low point in life in a matter of days that he even let his friend wash and bathe him like a puppy.

In fact, Nial would have never expected to bathe his friend before they would fight with all their might to vent out their sorrow, guilt, and frustration.

It was a ridiculous situation but nobody was smiling, laughing, or feeling great.

Instead, the situation was tense and awkward as nobody spoke because they felt burdened by the surrounding atmosphere.

Even Serl Tyr thought that a single word might cause the situation to worsen even further, which was why he remained quiet and simply observed the situation with his hands folded in front of his chest.

'Am I really doing the right thing?' He wondered, looking at Nial, who was motivating his son to get back on his feet.

It was not difficult to perceive that they were best friends and knowing this, Serl couldn't help but feel bad about what he had thought to do with Nial earlier.

If he were to be honest, Serl had thought more than once that it might be easier to get rid of Nial once they went their separate ways.

That was the safest way to prevent anyone else from finding out about the fact that he knew that the Eclipse Assassins had kidnapped the Orin family, after all.

Getting rid of the people that knew the truth would be the easiest way to protect his family, and by pretending to help Nial, Melvin would believe that his father was helping him reunite with his best friend.

Serl had believed that after years of not meeting each other, Melvin would have gotten to know other people, and slowly forgotten Nial.

However, Serl's opinion about Nial changed completely, and his initial thoughts of quieting him down with force or violence, if necessary, disappeared into thin air as he scratched the back of his head.

Instead, he decided to give Nial a better option that would allow him to reunite with his family, using his own means, namely, strength, wealth and connections.

And to build all of this, there were multiple places he could go to, which was attending a private school, followed by a prestigious university where most of the students belonging to influential families studied.

Other than that, he could try to reach a high position in the military, but that was quite difficult, considering Nial's disability, and the fact that he was likely to die before he would be able to come even close to attaining his goal of meeting his family.

In the end, there were also other ways to come close to Liondra, which was through specific organizations just like the Heaven's Gates, and the elite teams they were in control of such as the Eclipse Assassins.

In fact, hundreds or thousands of elite teams, guilds and clans similar to the Eclipse Assassins existed, and as long as they were powerful enough, and had the necessary influence, they would be able to enter Liondra easily.

Thus, Serl shared his opinion with Nial and Melvin, when they stood in the combat arena, fully prepared to fight…if one were to exclude the loose grip with which Melvin held his weapon, his eyes that were still void of the desire to live, and his complete unwillingness to fight.

"Nial…you know, if you ever need someone to barter items for you…I might be able to help you. The Tyr family can also auction off items in your stead, which means you'll receive a higher profit because we can attend and have access to private auctions…and if you need a recommendation letter for any kind of school, academy, or university…just tell me, I'll help you out…"

Hearing these words caused Nial to avert his attention from Melvin, whom he wanted to slap once again, and he stared at Serl Tyr with a wide-open mouth.

It was the first time Nial had sensed sincerity in Melvin's father's words indicating that he had no hidden agenda.

The honesty in his voice made him feel as if he wasn't the shrewd emotionless businessman who only sought personal gains and also harbored ill intentions.

Serl Tyr was sincere right now, and hearing what he said caused Nial to doubt his ears, unsure if he had heard correctly.

Even Melvin, who was only half-heartedly listening to them couldn't help but stare at his father in astonishment.

Never in his life had he heard his father saying or doing something so generous and being selfless instead of plotting to offer help in order to achieve something grander or to destroy someone else in order to take his sweet revenge.

As such, Melvin couldn't help but instinctively believe that something would happen to Nial, which caused him to take a step forward so that he stood in between his friend and father.

Only a moment later he realized what he was doing, which caused him to step back.

Yet, he had already reacted and both Nial and his father had noticed that…it was more difficult not to note that Melvin had moved, after all!

"So, you are finally done sulking? If that's the case, let's spar!"

Pulling Melvin towards the combat ring, which he could clearly visualize with his mana perception, Nial was ready to fight his friend, even if that meant he had to beat some common sense into him.

Yet, before he thought about starting the fight, he turned back to Serl Tyr as he bowed to him, showing his gratitude.

"We will definitely discuss your offer in the future…thank you very much…" Nial acknowledged Serl Tyr's help before turning towards Melvin, who seemed to have regained some of his vigor.

It was not enough but the first step had already been taken. As such, the following steps would be much easier…or so Nial thought as he manifested the Viper spear in his hand.

A light zap coursed through his body and it was almost as if the spear was greeting him, which caused a subtle smile to emerge on his face.

The last few days had been a mess, but the burden weighing on his shoulders felt less heavy with the Viper spear in his hand.

Everything seemed to be much easier than before and Nial's mind was slowly drawn to the fight, in which he would give his all, in order to allow himself to regain his senses as well as prepare for the future!

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While tightly holding the Viper spear, Nial was calmly standing inside the combat ring.

He was ready to fight Melvin, who looked at him with determination.

After perceiving the mana fluctuations of his friend, Nial found that they had stabilized which was great.

They were still far from perfect, and Nial knew that his friend was sleep-deprived and lacked nutrition but before dragging him to the combat ring he had been given three different types of serums and highly nutritious food in order to allow Melvin to fight without holding back.

From the looks of it, the butler and Serl Tyr felt that Melvin's fight against Nial was extremely important, which they showed by not just caring about Melvin but also him.

He was handed two vials, and Nial quickly noticed that they were a stamina replenisher and a mana replenishing potion.

Both the potions accelerated the speed at which he replenished his stamina and mana, allowing Nial to reach his highest combat prowess by taking them.

They were worth quite a bit, and Nial gulped them down without hesitation, knowing that he needed them.historical

Now that both were ready to fight and boosted by the serums they had gulped down, they went into their respective combat stance before awaiting the start of the battle.

This happened only seconds later as the butler of the Tyr family initiated a countdown.

Thus, once the battle started, the Viper spear's tip with a retracted blade pointed towards Melvin, who was wielding a set of daggers.

A moment later, both shots towards each other as Melvin's body was enveloped in faint lightning currents, while Nial was circulating mana through his body in order to increase the speed at which he could move.

In fact, the amount of mana both the opponents possessed had a huge difference because Melvin had enlarged his mana core two times already.

His mana control, martial art proficiency, and combat experience were much higher, in addition to the fact that Melvin had already acquired an ability of which he made use right now.

However, all of this didn't matter to Nial, who was rushing toward Melvin with an eerily calm demeanor, knowing that he had only one chance to defeat his friend.

Owing to the numerous disadvantages, and Nial's rather low combat experience, there shouldn't be a way for him to win against Melvin.

This was only obvious in ordinary conditions!

But owing to the circumstance, Nial was confident that he could deliver a great battle as long as he gave everything.

Having planned to do so, he could also feel the remnants of the darkness lingering around the Odyssey seed.

Nial had no idea what exactly this darkness was, or how the Odyssey seed created it.

But what he knew was that it had extremely destructive properties, including that it could devour mana!

Even though Nial didn't want to use it, he was certain that it was his only way to emerge victorious in the spar which he wanted to win by all means.

This was not only necessary for him, but even more so Melvin…that he knew Nial was not as weak as before!

Holding back was not something Nial would do in this spar, otherwise, he would only betray his own feelings and that of his friend.

With that in mind, Nial didn't hesitate to release the darkness lingering around the Odyssey seed.

As he tried to control it precisely, Nial's head began to hurt.

But he kept trying and slowly led it through the Viper spear that began to emanate the darkness of his Odyssey seed from its entirety.

This made the Viper spear with its retracted blade look more dangerous and lethal than it truly was…or so Nial initially believed.

Yet, the moment he brandished the Viper spear in its rod form towards Melvin, Nial perceived something he didn't expect to happen.

A replica of his first attack seemed to form out of the darkness that the Viper rod emanated, following his first attack closely.

He was not able to see anything but owing to his mana perception, he could clearly feel that the first attack was blocked by Melvin's lightning enveloped daggers, only for a second impact to follow suit, surprising both him and Melvin.

This caused Melvin's defense to break apart, allowing the rod to advance forward, and hit his shoulder.

Only a moment later, Melvin's body slumped to the ground, astonishing everyone around.

In fact, even Nial hadn't expected his attack amplified by the darkness of the Odyssey seed to be so impactful.

Without any expectations, he had just exerted his strength, and everything seemed to have worked out on its own.

However, the spar was far from over, and Nial quickly changed his stance, pulling the rod back before he thrust out with it once again.

He had yet to release the blade of the spear, and Serl Tyr presumed this to be a precaution taken by Nial to prevent accidentally injuring Melvin.

This was something Serl thought to be useless, but little did the Master of the Tyr family know that Nial was not afraid of injuring Melvin.

That was the least of his worries because neither of the two were currently afraid of injuring each other as Melvin's desire to win this spar surfaced from the depths of his heart.

With a loud shout, he lifted one of his hands holding a dagger before a bolt of lightning manifested in his palm.

Shooting out the ball of lightning, the dagger Melvin had held a moment earlier was flung towards Nial with a shocking pace that exceeded the ball of lightning he had fired towards him.

Considering that he had manifested and fired the lightning within a second, it was not strong enough to severely injure Nial.

However, that was not the case for the dagger that was flung toward him.

Barely fast enough to twist his body the moment Melvin gathered lightning transmuted mana in his hand, Nial was able to evade the attack by a hair's breadth…or so he thought.

What he had failed to realize was that the dagger that had brushed past him had actually hit him, causing a deep gash on his upper arm.

Yet, Nial didn't notice anything because the adrenaline coursing through his body was suppressing any kind of pain he was currently feeling.

Because of that, Nial was able to give his best, and exceed his limitations without being forced to rely on the first pulse of the Odyssey seed.

Thus, the moment he lifted his body, he thrust the Viper spear towards Melvin with only one hand.

In the end, by twisting his body, he had lost his balance, which his now free hand had fixed.

Unfortunately, this prevented him from attacking with a powerful thrust as the attack lacked the necessary stability.

However, Nial had already prepared himself for a similar scenario, whcih was why his mind was calmer than one might expect.

He had predicted a different scenario, but the actual case didn't really matter because it served as a leeway to get himself out of trouble.

This was exactly what was currently happening as he thrust the Viper rod forward aiming at Melvin's chest.

Yet, just a fraction of a second before he hit Melvin's chest, he heard a metallic clang of the dagger hitting his rod as the remaining dagger Melvin was wielding changed the trajectory of his attack.

Through this and the instability of Nial's thrust, the attack was bound to narrowly brush past Melvin's right shoulder, revealing an opportunity for the young Original.

But it was at this moment that the corners of Nial's lips curled upwards, clearly indicating to Melvin and the two spectators that something was wrong.

'Did I mess up?' Melvin wondered for a moment.

Despite knowing that something was bound to happen, the butler, Serl Tyr, and even more so Melvin, couldn't help but stare at what happened just a fraction of a second later as the Viper spear's blade shot out of its tip, piercing into Melvin's right shoulder.

This could only happen owing to Melvin's underestimation of the spearblade's length and the fact that he had never expected Nial to release the Viper spear's blade at this moment and to actually hurt him.

It was truly baffling because Nial's determination to win was clearly perceived with that attack.

However, Melvin could only grit his teeth and tell himself that the battle was not yet over.

Twisting his body instinctively the way he had done in the numerous hellish training sessions he had undergone with Master Junades, he was able to evade a severe injury.

Nial's attack might have been a surprise but Melvin had much more experience!

Nonetheless, it was crystal clear that Melvin was at a disadvantage right now because his shoulder was injured, preventing him from moving his entire right arm as smoothly as before.

This caused Melvin to frown, wondering how Nial had been able to learn how to wield his weapon and how to fight as good as him in a matter of a few days.

After all, he had been unconscious for several days.

As such, there had to be something else, which made him wonder if Nial's natural talent was at a monstrously high level or if Nial was giving his utmost efforts to defeat his opponent for the first time in his life…or it had always been the case and it was only Melvin who was experiencing this for the first time.

Unfortunately, before Melvin could come to a conclusion, Nial's free hand had already reached the Viper spear, allowing him to regain better control over the Viper spear followed by much better stability, and fierceness in the attacks he dealt.

Most of his attacks were simple slashes and thrusts, but these attacks were more than enough to annoy Melvin, to the extent that he was unable to hold back anymore.

Exerting a technique he had begun to learn only a short while before his re-encounter with Nial, Melvin gritted his teeth as lightning transmuted mana coursed through his entire body.

Through this, his speed increased tremendously, but owing to his weak command of the technique, it caused his body to ache severely.

But that was perfectly fine with Melvin, who saw nothing but victory in front of him as he smoothly evaded the spear thrust that was aimed towards the center of his chest.

As if Nial knew that Melvin would evade or block his attacks, he attacked fiercely while gritting his teeth.

Unfortunately, the last fierce attack caused him to lose his balance because Nial was certain that his spear-thrust would be blocked or the trajectory would get changed instead of getting entirely evaded.

Because of this miscalculation, he almost lost the fight against his friend.

Yet, instead of thinking about giving up, Nial twisted his body once again until he felt the uncomfortable sensation creeping up his spine that something extremely bad would happen if he were to continue.

As such, he knew that he had reached his limit, which allowed him to let go of his right hand in order to brandish the Viper spear in the direction Melvin was moving.

Through this, Nial attempted to hit his side, which didn't work as Melvin's entire body was clad in lightning for a fraction of a second, blocking the attack.

Leaning his body forward, Melvin used the wide-open area to jump towards his blind friend, thrusting his dagger out that sent Nial flying towards the ground.

"You're dead!" Melvin said in between heavy breaths, with a faint grin on his face as he held his dagger on Nial's neck.

It was the first grin that had appeared on his face since the day he had made the huge mistake.

This caused Serl and the butler to smile, only to see how Melvin stiffened as he felt something sharp sticking into his abdomen.

Looking down, he saw how a perfectly normal dagger, held in Nial's hand was piercing through his clothes, faintly cutting into his skin.

"So are you!"

The dagger Nial was holding in his right hand was one of the weapons he had picked up from the two-element dungeons.

A few Ratmen had attempted to wield the weapons of the Originals they killed, which played into his hands.

Unfortunately, this was not the case for the Ratmen because it was the incident in which his Odyssey seed had released the eerie darkness that had shattered their dreams to wield a proper weapon, killing them even before they could use it.

However, Nial was able to make use of the dagger, ending the spar with Melvin in a draw, and dealt the final blow with the dagger, instead of the Viper spear Melvin had been fixated on.

Minutes had passed since the spar had ended, but both youths were still sitting on the ground, catching up their breaths as if they had just run a long, tiring marathon.

Nonetheless, both of them were smiling, and the tension that had accumulated within their body during the last few days had been fully released, helping them free their minds of any ill thoughts.

This didn't mean that they had forgotten the abduction of Nial's family or the fact that Nial had no certain way of reaching them.

After emptying themselves of all the pent-up aggression, they were able to think straight ahead, and it was finally time for the two of them to make up their minds while being unaffected by emotions such as anger, guilt or frustration.

p Despite that, Melvin was unable to think about how he could help Nial to reunite with his family because he was still looking at his friend, in utter dumbfounding.

"How...did you become so much stronger in only a few days?" He couldn't help but ask, dragging Nial out of his thoughts.

"I became stronger?..Hmm…maybe I gained a little bit of combat experience, and I tried to replicate Master Junades' movements, but they're too difficult because my body feels like it's tearing apart while performing the entire sequence.

But I managed to perform parts of the whole sequence…a little bit at least.

If you mean that by becoming stronger, maybe I did get a little bit stronger...I guess."

Shrugging his shoulders, Nial pointed out that he had no idea what his friend meant, and even Serl Tyr and the butler of the Tyr family couldn't help but look at the profusely sweating boy in doubt.

It was almost as if they were not looking at a blind and crippled boy anymore but a ferocious little monster, but they refrained from making a comment because they were not sure what to say, to begin with.

In the end, there was too much to say, but too little time and words…or so it looked like.

As such, an awkward silence filled the arena which confused Nial as he thought that he had said something wrong.

Yet, what puzzled him was the fact that nobody mentioned the darkness the Odyssey seed had released.

As if on cue, Melvin pointed out what Nial had been thinking about, just without mentioning the darkness as if it didn't exist.

"By the way, how did you create the double impact hit at the start of the spar? Did you use your mana to accomplish that?"

It was confusing that Melvin seemed to have been unable to see the darkness that created the second impact, and when he turned his attention to Serl Tyr and the butler, he noticed that they were looking at him with curiosity too.

They were interested in figuring out the answer to Melvin's question, and without knowing why, Nial nodded his head before he replied,

"Probably? To be honest, I just followed my instincts and released everything from the inside!"

Even though his entire being screamed that he had to keep the darkness the Odyssey seed released his secret, Nail didn't like lying.

As such, he tried to tweak his answer and play around with words so that he wouldn't have to lie.

Nevertheless, Nial was still feeling guilty, but that didn't matter right now.

After all, his sister had been just taken away without his knowledge for having a unique disease!

He didn't want to imagine what would happen to him if others were to find out that he had the Odyssey seed inside his body. The fact that it was similar to an Innate ability holder, just more unique, but also ominous made him want to keep it as his personal secret for now.

Nial was unable to describe it properly, but he felt both comfortable and uncomfortable with the Odyssey seed around him.

Not wanting to add more worries to his mind, as well as wanting to be a little bit more comfortable with it, he chose to hide it even from his best friend.

As such, after he gave his uncertain answer, Nial tended to his wound on the arm and bandaged it before taking a healing serum.

His mind came up with numerous things to say to Melvin, but Nial felt incapable of saying anything.

Melvin appeared to be in a similar state, but it was clear that he had overcome his depression, which caused him to hug his friend, before he muttered, "I'm sorry!"

Returning the hug, Nial reassured his friend that it was fine and that it might have been for the best for Sabrina whose disease might have been cured already.

In the end, the only discomforting factor for Nial was the fact that he couldn't be certain about his family's well-being.

This was annoying, but also not something he could change right now. It made his heart ache, so painfully that he could barely breathe.

Yet, Nial also knew that he would reunite with his family, that was something he was certain off and the only requirement was for him to become stronger, stronger than anyone else!

As such, he bid farewell to his friend before he turned to Serl Tyr, and the butler, to whom he bid farewell too.

Nial had received Serl Tyr's contact information in his Originals card, and he already knew that he would have to use it soon because he had one particular item which he wanted to barter- the [Earth affinity(comprehension)] crystal!

Instead of selling the elemental affinity crystal, Nial planned to barter it with an ability crystal which he wanted to bind to as his mana core's first ability.

Unfortunately, he had yet to figure out what kind of ability he wanted to bind to his mana core.

It had to be suitable to his body and constitution, the fact that he couldn't see, and if possible, it would be the best if it could interlock with his [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability.

This meant that he wanted them to overlap and enhance each other even if only one of the two was utilized.

Doing such a thing was tricky, and Nial knew that the most important factor was to outweigh the disadvantage of being blind.

Though it was difficult and complex, he was confident in achieving it...somehow.

It would only take some time, which was something he had more than enough of.

Other than that, he could be considered to be rich because he had a Pseudo-Myth weapon aka the Viper spear, a large spatial ring, a leather armor, numerous potions, and other miscellaneous items, a permanent dungeon, and…an empty house.

As for his utility expenses, there was nothing he would have to pay for except water and electricity bills, and the rest was for his personal needs.

With that in mind, Nial couldn't help but feel a sudden emptiness spread through his entire being as he left the mansion of the Tyr family.

While dragging himself towards his now empty house, he walked past a middle-aged woman, who was staring daggers at him, followed by a young woman who looked at him, with a mixture of sadness and worry.

She had heard about what had happened, and even more so, she knew what her brother, Melvin had done.

As such, she felt as if it was her obligation to say something to comfort him, but before she could do so, her mother forcibly dragged her ahead, not giving her a chance to do anything.

Left on his own, Nial was walking through the streets with empty hands as everything was stored inside his spatial ring.

Hours passed in which he seemed to wander through the streets, and oddly enough, he somehow found himself in the backyard of his house.

Having no idea how he had arrived at home, Nial sat on the wooden bench as his mana perception focused on the permanent slime dungeon.

He had to try hard not to use his mana perception to sense his family's presence in the house because he wanted to deny the sad truth.

However, after a few minutes passed, Nial gave up this futile effort as he entered the house where he took a deep breath.

Walking through the entire house, he found out that everything was as he was told- his parents and sister were not there anymore.

From the looks of it the living room was a mess too, which was exactly what Serl had told him.

As such, the first thing Nial did was to clean the entire house before he prepared himself some dinner while trying to suppress his emotions.

Yet, when he tried to force himself to eat, Nial felt incapable of holding back his tears.

Despite the bitter tears of anguish and hurt flowing down his eye, he kept forcing himself to finish the food, and as if it was on command, the tears ceased the moment he was done eating.

After washing the dishes, he went outside and stared at the permanent slime dungeon knowing that it wouldn't take long before it would break out, and slimes would rampage his backyard.

A wry chuckle escaped his lips because he felt that the slimes dungeon had lost its value.

'Do I even need the constant supply of money the dungeon provides?' He asked himself, believing that the permanent slime dungeon had turned into a nuisance more than anything else.

It was at this moment that he received an email on his phone that looked more like a piece of junk.

In fact, it was nearly destroyed owing to the events that had happened during the last few weeks.

Though it was in tatters and had cracks on the screen, he could still read the mail he received, using the application that read the content of the message out loud, if only barely.

Most of the message was cut off because his phone didn't work properly anymore, but Nial caught the most important part, causing him to freeze on the spot.

[All properties of the family 'Orin' have been transferred to Nial Orin!]

On one hand, this was shocking and something that made him shiver despite a warm breeze of air that brushed past him.

But, on the other hand, he realized that the property transfer had a hidden meaning, which caused him to smile faintly.

'They're doing fine, right?'

He couldn't be sure if he understood the meaning of the property transfer correctly, but considering that he had inherited their property, meaning that the government indirectly acknowledged that they had taken away his parents and Sabrina.

Other than that, he couldn't explain the given situation that was more messed up than he initially wanted to acknowledge.

Yet, when Nial was able to move once again, the Viper spear manifested in his hand as he prepared himself to fight against a few slimes.

After entering the dungeon, he cleared his mind by killing the slimes, and the slime boss, which was easy after having fought much stronger beasts, and he finished all of them in less than half an hour.

When he was done, he picked up the origin crystals before he stored them away as he mumbled to himself.

"Should I just sell everything?"

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In the end, Nial was alone at home, and given the fact that he wanted to move to Liondra as quickly as possible, he couldn't help but believe that it was best to sell everything that held him back from moving on.

At the same time, it made him feel a little bit uncomfortable to leave behind everything that made him recall the great times he had spent in this home with his parents, Sabrina and even Melvin.

Yet, instead of letting emotions get to him, his resolve was only becoming firmer because Nial thought that he would have never been able to see his house, to begin with.

He tried to make himself less gloomy because the people who mattered to him made the memories special, not the bricks and walls.

Even if he were to continue staying inside the house, it would not necessarily make him feel any better.

Instead, the house would be the clear evidence that he was missing something; the rest of his family.

Loneliness was not great, but at the same time, it could be used as a fuel to drive himself harder to achieve whatever he wanted!

With that in mind, Nial didn't hesitate anymore as he accessed the phone.

Unfortunately, just as he was about to dial the number of the Originals' association in order to sell the permanent slime dungeon, including the property the dungeon portal was located on, he heard a loud crack.

Two pieces that had once been Nial's phone fell to the ground, causing the young man to frown deeply before he sighed.

'It looks like I need an Originals' bracelet too…'

Without being able to contact anyone, he felt the need for a device with which he could access the internet and if possible the official websites of the Originals.

Not just that but he also planned to browse through a variety of online stores and much more. With that in mind, Nial decided to visit the Originals' association.

The empty house was beginning to eat at him and he wanted to quickly step outside.

Thus, he quickly packed everything that would serve as memories of his family inside his spatial ring before leaving the house…forever.

Even if he could save lots of money by staying inside the house instead of lodging in a small room somewhere, he didn't want to train hard, just to return to the empty house every single day.

As such, Nial ran towards the direction of the main street, where he tried to hail a shuttle.

His phone had broken, after all, so he had to manually get one instead of booking it online.

Because of that, it took him almost an hour before he reached the Originals' association which Nial entered with much more confidence than just a few weeks ago.

Queuing up in a line, he waited patiently, and when it was his turn, he didn't waste any time either.

"Hello Sir, how may I help you?" The woman standing behind the counter asked, and Nial quickly held out his Originals ID before answering,

"I wish to sell my property. A permanent slime dungeon manifested on it a few weeks ago, but that was already reported.

The dungeon has a four hour respawn period, a restriction that allows only one Original to enter it at a time, and there are around 150 common slimes including the slime boss inside."

Stating the necessary facts in a few short sentences, Nial let her know his purpose of arrival.historical

The receptionist nodded her head in a slight confusion and many questions flashed through her mind.

However, instead of enquiring further, she began to work using a special configured calculator to add the information Nial had provided.

Sufficient documents and photos of the property and the dungeon needed to be provided as a proof to verify his claims, but for now, she could compute a rough price as the information about the Orin family's property were thorough.

"With everything you said, including the small house, and the sale of land the property is built on, you would receive around 1,000,000$. We'll need proof and documents for them both, but are you willing to sell your property for this price?"

Nial nodded his head, without saying anything because he could feel a lump in his throat.

Despite noticing him getting emotional the receptionist did not console him in any way. She came across such situations quite frequently so she was not really affected. Wanting to finish the task quickly, she simply moved the holographic screen closer to Nial so that he could sign it and leave quietly.

The receptionist didn't even bother trying to help him find the holographic screen, despite knowing that he was blind, and after he signed she asked if he had something else she could help with before turning towards the next client.

In the end, he would receive the said amount after everything was verified, which would take a day or two.

Nial was in no hurry either and he left the Originals' association to complete his next task.

Entering a few stores, he tried to figure out which merchants paid the most for the dozen weapons he had amassed inside the dungeon.

Unfortunately, even the highest bid he received was not up to his expectations, and by selling a total of 12 Mid Common ranked weapons, he merely received 2 million dollars in return.

This was a lot, but at the same time not exactly satisfactory for Nial, who had just sold his house and the permanent dungeon for half of that.

After the weapons were finally sold, Nial wanted to get rid of the two [Petrification Eyes(poorest)] ability crystals too.

They were also sold for the highest prices, which brought him a total of 300,000$. Under normal circumstances, ability crystals at the Low Common rank were priced at a minimum of 100,000$ which was also said to be amongst the highest price offered for Poorest quality Common ranked ability crystals.

Nevertheless, that was not the case for the [Petrification Eyes(poorest)] ability crystals because they could be used quite efficiently in combination with other abilities.

Owing to this, Nial had earned more than 3 Million dollars in a mere hour, which would have exhilarated him under normal circumstances.

But what he felt now was just a dull ache which served as a constant reminder of his missing family and his inability to find them.

Nothing excited him anymore, and the only goal he had in mind was to use the fortune he had earned in order to make use of it.

He still had more than 120 origin crystals left, but selling them would be wasteful because he wanted to become stronger as quickly as possible.

Thus, Nial was ready to use all of them to absorb and annex the mana that was stored inside the crystals.

This should be more than enough to enter the 2nd Origin rank…or so Nial thought.

Little did he know that the quality of the mana inside the origin crystals he had was so little that he would barely progress if he were to use only a single one.

Even with 100, his chances to undergo the first enlarging procedure of his mana core were slim. In fact, he would probably require 1000 poorest quality common ranked origin crystals.

As such, it was better to use origin crystals with a higher quality which was also more cost-efficient.

However, Nial was still oblivious to the bitter truth, thinking that his fortune of 3.6 Million dollars was enough to sponsor his advancement to the 5th Origin rank, which was his current limit.

This bubble would soon burst, but for now, he was still under the impression that he was truly rich…which was true. But it would not be the case by solely looking at the amount of origin crystals and money he possessed.

What made Nial truly rich was his equipment, and even more so the [Earth(comprehension)] affinity crystal.

But even then, Nial would never sell his equipment because he required it to fight and survive, while the Earth affinity crystal was something he wanted to barter, but not now.

The master of the Tyr family might have warmed up to him, but that didn't mean Nial felt the same about him.

Contrary to that, Nial was even more vigilant of Serl Tyr than it had been the case before.

There were multiple reasons for this, but the most important was his gut feeling that told him it was better to be safe than sorry.

As such, Nial had decided to search for a suitable ability crystal to bind to his mana core before considering making use of the Tyr family's connections.

However, before all of that, he rented one of the cheaper flats that were in the district adjacent to the central district.

This cost him 1500$ rent for an entire month, which was the period in which he wanted to chalk out his future plans.

Giving himself a specific time limit was important, and also necessary to pressurize himself, which was exactly what Nial was trying to do.

Determined to make every second count, Nial entered the sparsely decorated flat.

It had the bare minimum furniture that he would require to live comfortably.

The first thing he did upon settling down was to take a shower before he put on his underwear, and fell asleep the moment his back touched the bed.

The last 24 hours had been extremely stressful, and the information he had received was hard to digest.

Because of that, Nial needed a good amount of sleep which was what he did.

Several hours later, he woke up with groggy eyes, not knowing where he was.

But then all the memories of the last day came rushing to him.

This caused him to sigh deeply before he got up from the bed.

Stepping into the shower to wash away his sleep, he put on some more clothes, before he tried to access his online bank account.

However that was not possible because he was still lacking an Originals' bracelet.

It made him react by slapping his forehead when he realized that he had forgotten to purchase the Originals' bracelet, with which he could access everything he required.

In fact, not just him but the device was a must-have for every single Original because it came with a variety of functions just like a smartphone.

Even people who had not awakened their origin used the Originals bracelets as its use was simply too great.

After having taken sufficient rest, Nial decided to purchase one for himself too.

Luckily, he could purchase things using his ID as well, and thus he made use of it half an hour later.

Purchasing one of the simple, yet further tempered and reinforced versions of the Originals bracelets for around 199.999$, Nial ensured that it wouldn't break, even if his entire arm would be mashed.

This visualization was cruel, but it was something that could happen.

Shaking his head to get rid of the gory image of his mashed hand, Nial purchased the Originals bracelet before accessing it with his Originals ID card.

Merely a few moments later, he heard the pleasing voice of a female, originating from the Originals bracelet.

[Hello Master, how may I help you?]

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Configuring the Originals' bracelet didn't take long because it scanned his ID, and imported all the previously stored information about him in seconds.

This allowed him to access all websites only Originals were permitted to look at.

There were many things he had to pay attention to, but Nial's mind seemed to be a mashed pulp of thoughts, similar to the visualization of his mashed arm- chaotic, tangled and broken.

For a moment, he was unable to make sense of the situation he was currently in that rendered himself incapable of thinking of the next step of his non-existent plan.

Unable to think of anything he was supposed to do right now, Nial simply sat in his new home while staring at the walls.

He felt extremely useless, his mind felt empty, but at the same it was as if he had too many things that were important to be solved right at this instant.

As such, while trying to come up with the perfect plan, several possible ideas popped up in his head, making it hard for him to pick one.

It was extremely difficult, and an extreme burden for his entire being.

After all, he had always had his parents or Melvin to discuss his issues if he were to get stuck somewhere. But, he would take some time in getting used to doing and deciding everything on his own.

Because of that, Nial's brain was overflowing with plans but none of them was perfect which prevented him from doing anything.

Forcing himself to get his act together, Nial picked the one he found the most feasible and started to think on it further.

With that in mind, he began to absorb the Mana out of the origin crystals he had at hand, annexing every single trace of mana out of them.

This allowed him to increase the amount of mana stored inside his mana core tremendously.

However, even after two days passed and the last origin crystal had been emptied, Nial realized that the 'huge' amount of mana was only slightly more than a tenth of his entire mana core.

That meant he had to purchase close to 900 poorest quality Common rank origin crystals in order to fill his mana core to the brim.

If he were to purchase Low ranked origin crystals instead, he would require less but that did not make much difference because the advance to the 2nd Origin rank would cost him far less than 50,000$.

This was unexpectedly low, considering that his current fortune was more than 3 million dollars.

Maybe it was even enough to allow him to enter the 3rd Origin rank but it would eat up almost his whole fortune because every subsequent rank demanded far more mana of higher quality than the previous rank.

But even that was not something Nial paid much attention to because he couldn't think about purchasing something.

Instead, he wanted to distract his mind from anything that could possibly make him recall his family, or the fact that he was completely alone.

Thus, he left his new flat for the first time in almost three days, with a familiar destination in his mind.

It was a place where he was able to release all his emotions without hurting anyone… except monsters.

His goal was the Melind dungeon!

Unsure of how much time had passed, Nial was deep in thought as his feet automatically carried him to the Melind dungeon, which he wanted to enter without wasting too much time.

However, what he didn't think about before was the fact that he didn't have the free pass, aka Melvin, by his side anymore.

Realization struck him only when he was asked to show his Originals ID card, which Nial did with some reluctance.

This was noticed by the soldier, who took a glance at the Originals ID card before he frowned a little.

Yet, instead of commenting, he returned the ID card before allowing him to enter the dungeon.

Even though Nial hadn't thought about the restrictions beforehand, he was fully aware of the fact that only government officials and a select group of individuals with special permission were eligible to enter the Melind dungeon.

In the end, this was owing to the fact that the dungeon was in a tricky area with a dense population of humans, followed by the fact that it was a permanent dungeon, where the monsters within respawned at a quick pace.

As such, the government was forced to send in their troops in quick succession, while their reasons to prevent other Originals from entering the dungeon were mainly based on materialistic gains.

After all, the Melind dungeon had many rare bosses, such as the Sekyr Sound Centipede that dropped very rare ability crystals.

This was not everything but more than enough for Nial to clearly understand that the government was sending in their own troops to fill their own pockets, even if it was only to pay the bills of the increasing number of soldiers they had to nurture on a monthly basis.

Nial didn't blame the government for this strategy as it required huge amounts of funds in order to control their shelters, and taxes were falling short of the ever-increasing expenses which wasn't the case before the first dungeon emerged.

Multiple reasons caused the old tax system to break down, and Originals wouldn't voluntarily create an Originals ID, if they had to pay high.

Otherwise, they would simply create a barter system with which they would use the goods from dungeons, physical money or other necessities that couldn't be detected by the system.

Thus, taxes were a difficult matter and in order to create a working system in a world with dungeons, the government had found several ways in order to fund themselves, which worked relatively well in a world where the weak would do everything in order to make their ends meet.

One such way was to hire the poor and weak to nurture them to turn them into teams of Originals, whose sole goal was to clear permanent dungeons, in order to earn origin crystals which in turn would allow more people to be nurtured.

Wealth would accumulate slowly but steadily, and after some huge investments of countless powerhouses, everything seemed to work perfectly fine.

Nial didn't know all of this because history was something he had yet to study properly, and it would probably take a while to increase his knowledge up to the point that he would be comparable to his peers.

However, that was perfectly fine, and for now being able to enter the Melind dungeon was a top priority.

It would help him calm his mind and he had already reminded himself of one particular task which he couldn't neglect.

'I should definitely return to the library, and study as much as possible. Acquiring knowledge is important but that's not all! If the librarian…Mara, I think was her name, is still there, I might be able to ask her about Liondra.

She knows Master Junades, after all, so wouldn't she know one or two things about the strongest shelter of mankind?'

Nial was not really sure how influential Master Junades, Librarian Mara, or even blacksmith Arnold were, but he knew that they would be able to help him better than Serl Tyr, who was still hiding some things from him.

As such, while being inside the Melind dungeon which he was allowed to enter, Nial's mind began to work once again.

Freed of the countless ideas that had tormented his mind earlier, he was finally able to come up with a good plan to solve all the issues he had at hand.

However, before thinking of anything else, or fighting in order to ease the tension in his coiled muscles, Nial enveloped his Originals ID card with mana, in order to figure out what kinds of changes had happened.

The Originals ID card was similar to a smartphone application that would be updated on a regular basis.

As such, Nial, who had been struggling to fight the loneliness surrounding him, he had been unable to see the newest updates, including the special remark that was added to his ID card.

Only now was he able to visualize it, and upon reading the words he was a bit astonished.

[Civilian Honor Badge(Bronze)]

He had not done a lot in the dungeon, except trying to find and take care of Shana, but after thinking about it for a moment, it did not matter what task of his made him receive this honor badge.

Rather, he should make use of everything he received in order to find a way towards the Liondra shelter and his family.

Thus, ignoring the honor badge, he visualized his surroundings by using some of the mana inside his mana core to empower the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability, allowing him to perceive a bigger range of his surroundings.

It was not even important for Nial to visualize anything around him because being able to perceive his surroundings, and the moving masses of mana was already more than enough for him to locate his opponents.

He knew that there were many Goblins inside the Melind dungeon, and after having emerged in the middle of the plains, there was not a single sign for him to figure out which direction the forest was.

Even if he were to find the forest, after venturing in the deeper areas of the first floor, Nial was not sure if he should enter it because the dangers were several times higher than it was the case with the outskirts that were represented by the plains.historical

As such, Nial knew that he had to be a little bit careful about what he was supposed to do as he could not pay attention to several things at once.

What was more important was to fix the issue he had with long-range opponents, which meant that he had to figure out how to find and kill them without the need to see them.

Sensing them would be the easiest, but the mana consumption of the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability increased exponentially the further he wanted to see.

This was obvious because the range increased to an exceptional degree despite the ability itself being at the poorest possible of the lowest quality at the Common rank.

Such a ranking spoke volumes about the ability itself, the amount of mana that was required, and how potent the ability was in relation to the used mana.

With that in mind, Nial knew that he would have to become stronger in order to increase the rank and thus the strength of his Innate ability, overcoming even the disadvantages he had of being blind.

He was fully aware of the fact that he kept thinking about his disability a lot, but it was simply too much of a disadvantage not to think about.

Dying at the hands of someone who would attack him from a long distance, or the possibility that he was unable to sense the advance of specific beings was certainly not acceptable.

The latter would have a low chance, but would still be possible.

As such, Nial got carried away in his thoughts once again and momentarily went blank.

Goosebumps sprang up all over his entire body in an instant, and it was just at this moment that Nial moved his leg left backward.

Twisting himself, he tilted the Viper spear before he pierced out with it.

Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

Hearing three sounds as different objects collided with the Viper spear's blade, Nial understood that he was facing three different attackers as the direction of each of these attacks was different.

Having expected only one opponent, the Earth Mole that shot out of the ground quickly disappeared, realizing that its attack failed, leaving Nial with two unknown attackers that were to his right and left.

"So…you guys want to play? Good for you, but I don't like playing around!"

Growling out these words, Nial's already bad mood only worsened, and without hesitation he released the majority of his mana in order to utilize the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability.

Through this, he was able to perceive many masses of mana to his right and left, numbering more than two dozen on each side.

Normally, this would be something to be afraid of, but Nial couldn't help but smile lightly as his frustration disappeared into thin air, sensing that he was able to let off some steam!

"Being in the wrong place at the wrong time was never good…but now..DIE!!"

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By entering the Melind dungeon, Nial planned to start from scratch once again.

This didn't mean that he would forget his past or do something extremely stupid.

Rather, it meant that he wanted to test his current capabilities with a clear mind in order to evaluate his strengths and weaknesses.

Thus did not only include his combat strength, but also his comprehension, and the depth of his knowledge.

In the end, all of his characteristics should be rather low, with the sole exception being his comprehension and everything concerning the control of mana.

By assessing himself, he should be able to find out more about his own persona, the things he was lacking the most, what was the most important to fix right away, and a plan to tend to all the issues one by one.

This was what Nial had planned initially, but after encountering two large groups of beasts that he presumed to be goblins, Nial was unable to even think about holding back, or assessing himself.

Instead, his mind was fully occupied with sensing his opponents for a short moment before he retracted the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability.

The mana consumption was simply too high, and Nial knew that he was in dire need of mana.

Otherwise, he would have too little to circulate through his body, which was what he did right now in order to increase his strength and speed by a small margin.

Following that, he catapulted his body towards one direction, charging at one of the two groups that had approximately 30 beings each.

This was a huge number compared to what Nial wanted to fight right now because he first wished to adjust to the subtle increase in strength he had received by absorbing and annexing mana.

Unfortunately, this was not possible, and his first opponents after Melvin were around 30 goblins each on his right and left.

He was not sure how many of the goblins were archers, but it was just at this moment that his mana perception allowed him to sense the rapid approach of eight arrows, five from the back and three from the front.

A total of eight archers was less than what Nial had presumed, but it was already more than enough to pressurize him to the extent that he was barely able to evade and deflect them.

In fact, two arrows hit his leather armor, almost piercing into his skin which caused Nial's heart to skip a beat before he continued to advance.

Increasing the speed at which he ran, knowing that he might have to encounter another volley of arrows, Nial circulated more mana through his body.

With an attempt to lessen the unnecessary movements he did, he felt as if he could further accelerate, but that was not something he could be sure of.

As such, Nial decided that make a note of the movements he was currently doing as he began to swing the Viper spear when he was able to visualise the first Goblin from a closer distance.

This meant that his opponents were not that far, which barely gave him the necessary time to react quickly by attacking the closest Goblin that was standing in front of him, holding a manaless broadsword in its tiny hands.

Thrusting the Viper spear forward and into the Goblin's flesh, Nial's arms shot out, allowing him to reach the required distance in order to penetrate the Goblin's head.historical

Blood and brain mass splattered through the air the moment Nial retracted the Viper spear, leaving behind the corpse of the goblin that had been unable to notice what had happened.

Meanwhile, the other goblins stiffened, when they perceived how easily their comrade had died.

It had not even been able to stall Nial for a single second before dying of an easy thrust which took only a moment as well.

As such, not even death seemed to be able to force the young, blind man to halt in his tracks as he used both hands to hold the upper and lower ends of the Viper spear in order to utilize all kinds of unique movements.

This was only possible because Nial had penetrated their formation and entered the center of the large goblin group, preventing the three archers from attacking him without firing at his upper body, or one of their own.

Because of that, he had many more options to finish off his opponents, including more space to fight and evade other attacks.

Through this, it was possible for Nial to understand that his current strength was higher than that of the individual goblins, whose combat style was extremely simplistic.

There were no feints, hidden attacks or scheming. Instead, they were screaming out in pain, anger, and wrath while trying to kill him and rushing at him rather mindlessly.

Yet, before they were even able to reach him, a razor-sharp blade pierced through their body, cut their weapon, or slashed their entire body apart, reducing them to mere bone and limbs.

Being equipped with the Viper spear, a Myth weapon, Nial would never have to face an issue in destroying weapons that didn't possess any mana.

Even some Common ranked weapons might break if they were not forged out of highly durable ores, flawlessly crafted or purified perfectly.

As such, he had simply turned into a tornado of destruction, crudely destroying the weapons of the goblins that attacked him, killing them without any mercy.

Having mercy would only cause problems, and in the current situation, he might as well die.

Thus, moving around gracefully, Nial killed the first group of Goblins within a few minutes. The speed at which he moved was extremely fast, making his body revolt against his sudden movements, preventing him from moving however he wanted.

Sore muscles made pain shoot up from every cell of his lower body. While he was able to visualize the way he wanted to move, but at the same time, his body was not able to follow suit fast enough.

Because of that, the problems began to accumulate, clearly telling Nial that he had many things to solve.

Working on strengthening his physique was something he already knew about, but his constitution was just another important factor which he had momentarily forgotten.

While fighting in a crude manner, Nial also noticed that he was relying too much on the Viper spear which would be a huge disadvantage if beasts were able to evade his straightforward thrust.

This was not an unlikely scenario, and something perfectly normal because too many powerful beasts with strong defenses existed.

Hence, he had be more analytical when encountering beasts he knew little to nothing about.

But being analytical was not possible for him right now.

Which is why he was focusing on using the best time-efficient way to defeat all opponents. His trick seemed to work as the first goblin group now lay on the ground, with their blood seeping into the now wet soil.

Given the current situation, Nial wanted to take a deep breath but even that was not possible as he heard the unmistakable sound of several arrows that shot through the air.

By circulating mana through his entire body, his senses had also been enhanced, which allowed Nial to hear the arrows, in the first place.

Evading the arrows was much easier because Nial had chosen to take the easiest possible defensive measure; using a meat shield!

Picking up the biggest goblin, he lifted the corpse easily.

Adjusting the angle in accordance to the trajectory in which the arrow flew, Nial was able to block three arrows from hitting him, which was a great achievement, in comparison to the effort he made.

Because evading the attack didn't force him to twist his body in an uncomfortable angle, or do something else, which would have forced him to halt in his tracks, Nial was able to push his feet off the ground.

This gave him a great boost in speed, allowing him to reach his speed limit within a fraction of the time he normally required.

Thus, he arrived in front of the closest goblin, which was wielding a spear just as he did.

Thrusting the spear out, the goblin almost pierced Nial, who was taken aback by the fast reaction speed of his opponent.

Nevertheless, such a speed was not enough to kill Nial as his reflexes were great enough to lift the Viper spear.

A clang echoed through the surroundings when the two spears collided with each other, his higher strength, both quality and grade of the Viper spear were clearly shown as he pushed back the goblin's spear.

Flinging it out of the goblin's hand, Nial moved swiftly before he thrust the spear in his opponent's chest, piercing through it.

With the use of every muscle in his arms, shoulders, and back, the strength he was able to exert was almost strong enough to pierce through the body of the goblin behind the one he just killed.

The goblin behind was staring at the Viper spear's blade that was only a few centimeters away from its face, and Nial could only grimace before he tore the spear out of the chest of the goblin he had just killed.

Afterward, he quickly moved towards the side, evading two slashes of longswords, and before anything could happen, he counterattacked, thrusting at the swords that shattered into countless fragments.

Nial couldn't help but feel that the Viper spear was just too strong, but there was no way that he would complain about this.

Rather, he was overjoyed to own such a powerful weapon, even if it might alter his perception of his opponent's strength.

However, he had only survived inside the two-element dungeon because he owned a weapon that was as strong as the Viper spear.

Despite that, the Viper spear was still much better than the Fang spear because Nial felt as if the weapon had been custom-built for him, and not for Shana's sister.

It fit perfectly in his hand, and there was close to no delay between the moment in which he inserted mana in the Viper spear, and could utilize the Viper spear in order to make use of the mana.

After the first goblin of the second large group had been killed, and two weapons destroyed, Nial felt that his breathing was becoming irregular.

The moves he had used had been too strenuous for his body that had been forced to rest for over a week according to the words of the Tyr family's butler.

As such, after fighting with Melvin, Nial spent four days doing other things than working out and preparing his physique to practice martial art techniques.

He didn't even take a single look at the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique since he had left the two-element dungeon.

Even now, Nial felt that there were more important things he had to complete before paying attention to a technique that allowed him to increase his control over mana.

In the end, increasing one's control over mana, and improving the ways to utilize it was said to be the most difficult, but for Nial, this was one of the smallest issues right now.

The biggest was his disability and the disadvantages his blindness brought forth, followed by his physical weakness.

His lack of strong physique was connected to his other concerns which were the number of techniques he had, and that he had no way to procure more of them.

At the same time his knowledge, or rather the lack of knowledge was also an equally big concern, and last but not least the fact that he had nobody to look up to as a mentor.

It was not necessary to have a mentor, but after he had witnessed how Master Junades had moved, almost soundlessly, and without any flaws, or wasted moves, Nial was sure that it would save him ag great deal of time and efforts if he were to have someone to teach the proper movements.

With that in mind, Nial was slowly finding a path to move ahead, to figure out what he had to know, improve, and pay attention to.

All of this could be considered his starting line, and the journey to figure out more about himself.

However, before he was able to start a chapter in his life, and journey, Nial had to defeat those that obstructed him in this process.

Thus, he caused carnage as he finished off the remaining goblins that died miserably while a devious smile was plastered on Nial's face.

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After killing the last few goblins, Nial picked up the origin crystals that had dropped before he distanced himself from the crime scene.

Once he reached a certain distance, he slumped to the ground, and took a few deep breaths.

While actively replenishing his mana, Nial simply used an origin crystal to hasten up the process, not bothering about the hefty sum of 30$ he paid for the crystal that was pulverized within seconds.

It didn't take long before he was reinvigorated, and his mana core was filled to the brim, but instead of clashing against dozens of goblin groups, Nial wanted to do something different.

However, on second thought, releasing his pent-up frustration would probably be the best. At least for now.

His body was aching lightly, but by straining his muscles they would be tempered and trained for such rigorous physical activities.

Thus, after gulping down a single stamina replenishing potion, Nial chose to turn the outskirts into a field of massacre with the sole purpose of allowing his body to adjust to strenuous movements and to release his tension.

With such a simple mission at hand, several hours passed, and his entire body was streaked with blood and brain mass as he stood in the middle of a battlefield with more than 50 goblins.

Having fought against several hundred of them, he was now well versed with their combat style that was not too special, to begin with.

As such, he could easily kill a handful of them while evading arrows, spear thrusts and other blades thrust toward him.

Possessing a great perception had always been one of Nial's strongest advantages, but right now, he was also able to absorb large amounts of mana currents passively while walking around.

This was something he didn't expect to be capable of doing while being on a killing spree because there shouldn't be too much time left for him to focus on absorbing mana.

Yet, after having killed hundreds of beasts, his appearance and demeanor coupled with the way he wielded his spear was enough to prevent any of the weaker beasts on the outskirts from attacking him.

Nial knew that he was just at the outskirts of the Melind dungeon's first layer, so he should be able to enter the central area without being ripped apart.

However, he didn't want to enter the central area except for the purpose of leaving the dungeon, which was what he would do soon.

Unfortunately, his plan to keep slaughtering beasts while absorbing some mana to annex it kept getting interrupted by other Originals that hunted the prey he had planned to attack, or he encountered groups of beasts that were already attacking someone else.

As such, without intervening in their hunts he tried searching for other beasts, only for a slightly more problematic intervention to occur.

Facing a small group of 10 goblins, Nial first assumed that he would be able to slaughter them quite easily.historical

To his misfortune, there were unique goblins amongst them, which was odd to come across in Rookie dungeons.

While the most common forms of goblins were green-colored ones, which Nial perceived as the ones that had little mana, evolved goblins could either turn into Goblin Warriors, Hobgoblins, or Goblins with unique professions that might even allow them to wield elemental affinities.

However, Nial wasn't supposed to encounter such goblins in the Melind dungeon, which was why he presumed the goblins in front of him to have two Mutants amongst them.

Being able to perceive their mana fluctuations, he realized that these two Mutants were much stronger, and one of them even had faint signs of transmuted mana.

This indicated that one of the mutants was likely to have only received a physical enhancement through the mutation, while the other one was likely to have gained an elemental affinity seed.

To say that Nial was not astonished about this would be a lie, but he was able to keep his calm. After all, he had been facing much more powerful existences in the last few weeks.

Because of that, he took a deep breath before he charged toward his opponents like a tornado, swiftly killing the eight goblins that were trying to attack him mindlessly.

They roared out in wrath while trying to intimidate him, only to understand too late that the two truly strong goblins were simply going to spectate their death as they didn't even budge while seeing the eight goblins getting slaughtered.

Nial had perceived this from the beginning, which was why he had acted so quickly, preventing the Mutated goblins from changing their mind.

After the eight goblins were dead, the two mutants made their first move as one of them manifested a water jet in front of his body, and shot it towards Nial without hesitation.

Evading it by a hair's breadth, Nial twisted his body at an uncomfortable angle but that prevented him from evading the attack of the physically stronger goblin that slashed at him with a longsword.

Wielding the Viper spear, Nial deflected the attack in the nick of time.

Lifting his body, and returning it to the stance he had been in a moment earlier, Nial used his strength by circulating a large amount of mana through his arm and back.

This allowed him to move the Viper spear at a rapid pace, making a slight curve with it in order to hit the physically strong goblin's side.

At first, Nial presumed that the attack had hit it, but the goblin was able to use its quick reflexes to block off the attack, while the other goblin shot another water jet at him.

At the same time, the Water attributed goblin advanced toward him, entering close combat while continuing to use its affinity.

This was annoying but far less dangerous than having a long-range attacker.

Two close combatants were still fine, and considering that the Water attributed goblin was just a goblin with an elemental attribute, Nial was able to injure it relatively quickly.

Unfortunately, the moment he attacked it, the physically strong goblin changed the trajectory of his spear thrust, preventing Nial from killing the water-attributed goblin in a single attack.

Nevertheless, Nial didn't back away and the moment his spear pierced into the water attributed to the goblin's arm, he released the blade on the side of the spear tip.

Through this, Nial was able to worsen the injury he had created, and by using some more force, in addition to mana, the seemingly light injury turned into a deep cut that caused enough blood loss to kill the goblin over time.

This was great, which caused him to forcefully tear the Viper spear out of his opponent's injury.

Predictably, the inflicted injury worsened, giving Nial the necessary time to focus solely on the physically enhanced goblin.

Not wanting to give his opponent the time to react, he thrust the Viper spear forward, and his brute force coupled with the sharp blade was enough to break the weapon the goblin used to block Nial's attack.

The goblin ended up in a miserable state as it wanted to twist its body to evade the attack.

Blood gushed out of its wound while the goblin howled in pain as the Viper spear's blade slashed through its abdomen.

More blood trickled out of its mouth, and it began to gasp for air while clutching its stomach, seemingly complaining about the unfairness of life, and the difference in their equipment's grade, but Nial was unmoved.

Instead of feeling pity, he twisted the Viper spear inside the physically enhanced goblin, killing it as he finally tore the weapon out of its body.

Following that, Nial threw himself backward, evading two water jets that flew past him, and it was only then that he was finally able to kill the last opponent before a small origin crystal dropped to the ground.

Taking deep breaths, he ignored the fact that he had no mana left inside his body as he picked up the origin crystal before quickly leaving the place.

The last battle had been more than enough for Nial to loosen up his coiled muscles and release his tension, which was why he decided to leave the Melind dungeon.

He had been inside the dungeon long enough, and without further delay, he focused on reaching the center of the first floor.

This was much easier than he initially presumed and it was only half an hour later that he emerged in Katu, where a few soldiers eyed him weirdly.

Not caring about his current state and his bloody clothes that were subjected to odd gazes, Nial wanted to hail a shuttle, and leave the area of the dungeon portal.

But before he could do anything, one of the soldiers holding a towel in his hands stopped him.

Pushing the towel in Nial's arm, he told him that leaving the dungeon dirty is not necessarily bad. However, on the other hand, it was not acceptable to run around with bits of flesh and intestines sticking to his leather armor, and blood trickling down his clothes.

As such, Nial was forced to clean himself a little bit before he was finally allowed to leave the area.

He quickly accessed the Originals' bracelet and a holographic screen manifested in front of him.

Nial could only perceive it, however, that was more than enough to read the message that popped up in the middle of the screen.

[Hello Nial,

I'm not sure if you remember me, but I'm Nina Melion, one of the teachers at the Lasia military academy.

We encountered each other a few times in the last weeks, and owing to the information Jack, his team, and the civilians provided, we would like to offer a special opportunity to you!

Would you like to become a soldier?

If you are willing to do so, I can send a word of recommendation about you to the junior training program for newly appointed militants. If you do well, you might be able to finish the primary training, join the military, and within a few years, you should be able to receive a promotion as well.

This means you will get more responsibilities but also receive more resources to become stronger!

Please message me back, once you read this message,

Sincerely Nina]

Nial recalled the teacher of the two military junior troops he had encountered, once inside the Melind dungeon and once more in front of the two-element dungeon.

His impression of her was pretty good because she had defeated the rare boss that would have killed him and Melvin before handing them the ability crystal that had dropped.

As such, his doubts about the possibility of her having a hidden intention disappeared quickly.

However, this didn't help him to understand what exactly she would gain from helping him.

'Maybe she was asked to invite me because of what I did in the two-element dungeon? Or did Jack try to create an opportunity for me?' Nial was not sure about the answer, but what he knew was that he didn't want to join the military like that.

First of all, it restricted his advance severely owing to multiple factors such as an obstructed freedom to do whatever he pleased.

He would have to follow orders and do what others said, and this was not something he wished for.

Thus, becoming an ordinary soldier had never been on his to-do list.

Entering the military was something Nial thought of doing but not as an ordinary soldier.

After all, the military worked for the government, and through this, he would have it much easier to enter Liondra, and reunite with his family.

Unfortunately, being a soldier was not enough, and it would be best to join associations such as the Eclipse Assassins.

But for this, Nial had to attempt to go somewhere to make use of the few connections he had.

With that in mind, he didn't answer Nina's message right away and thought of doing it later when he might be desperate enough to accept her offer.

However, this day would never come!

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